Starting Over
by DarkKnight The LightHawk
Summary: After everything is said and done, Naruto has failed, and is dying. Now he has a chance to start over and with help. But how will this change things? New Chapter up! R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Starting over  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything I use from Naruto to Ranma to Slayers

Things are not always what they seem. Here we find a boy, probably no older than thirteen lying in a pool of his own blood in a place that is aptly named the Valley of the End. His best friend in the world has just used a move called the Chidori on him and has left him for dead since the injury will kill him in a matter of minutes. The Chidori is an assassination attack created by the boy's teacher, and taught to his best friend.

Lying there with nothing left to do, the boy whose name is Naruto slowly slips into unconsciousness. It will not be long before he dies, just as he draws his final breath, time seems to stop for him and a man steps through a glowing portal. The man is wearing black cargo pants, a black long sleeve shirt, and a blood red vest. His blonde hair was almost platinum blonde bordering on white. He looked down at Naruto and extended his hand.

Naruto looked up at him and slowly took his out stretched hand. Raising to his feet he looked at the man with curiosity before asking, "Who are you?"  
"It doesn't matter who I am, only what choice are you going to make concerning what happened here"

"What do you mean?"

"Simple really, you are all but dead. The moment I leave, you will die. I happen to know that you don't really like this idea, but you do have a choice. I have a means of sending you back in time to when you where five years old. You will keep all of your memories, but none of the abilities or training. Your old body will be the same."

"What good would that do me?"

"Well for starters, you wouldn't be dead, and with knowledge of the future, you will be better able to prepare yourself for the coming things. I will also give you access to something that will enable you to go farther then anyone else."

"Why are you doing this for me?"

"Simple, I have watched your life. With everything you have gone through you still care for people and have never given up. I like that and am willing to give you a second chance. There is nothing more to it than that, unless you count having someone else along for the ride."

"Huh?"

"Oh, sorry forgot to mention that part. Kyuubi will be coming along for the ride of course, but so will another that is in the same predicament, this person has more knowledge of things than even you do. He can help you, but it will take some doing for the two of you to come together, as such, he will have to share your body as does the Kyuubi. But with a little help, you should be able to create a body for him after a few years and then you two can go your separate was if you so choose."

"What do I have to do."

"Just say yes and then the three of you will be off to the past as one. He will be able to talk to you just like the Kyuubi will be able to talk to you. And it will be up to the three of you to come to a compromise on how to handle things, but don't think that it will be an issue in the times to come. Well, what do you say?"

Taking a look around, Naruto then realized that this was the best chance he had for a new life, and he didn't want to go back and leave his best friend to face the snake. With a long heavy sigh, he agreed and time seemed to start again, Naruto feel down and closed his eyes hoping that it hadn't been a dying dream...


	2. Chapter 2

Starting over  
Chapter 2  
Disclaimer: See first chapter

The sun was just starting to come out and the first rays of light shined upon Uzumaki Naruto. Slowly waking up, he took a look at his surroundings and noticed that he was back home in his apartment. Then, in a flash, everything that happened to him came rushing back. The fight with Sasuke, the near death experience, and the deal made to start over. Suddenly, everything slowly faded into nothing as he found himself in a hallway lined with old piping and standing water. Looking around he heard two voices from down the hallway so he started to follow the voices. Not long afterwards, he found a giant gate with an ofuda with the word seal written on it. Outside the gate was a man wearing black jeans, a black tee-shirt and black combat boots. On the other side of the cage was a giant fox with nine flowing tails swishing around the cage.

"About time you got here." said the man in black.

**"So the Gaki finally decides to show up."** said the fox.

"Cool it Kyuubi, we have already had this talk."

**"I still say that this will lead no where, he will never agree to what you are asking of him."**

"He will if you would actually talk to him and tell him everything that you have told me."

"WOH WOH WOH, who are you and what is going on here?"

"That is easy enough to answer, My name is Hikaru, and this is Kyuubi. You made a deal to go back in time and in doing so prevent certain things from happening. I am here to make sure things don't get too out of hand and to train you in things that even your great Hokage doesn't know about."

"Huh?"

**"Simple and stupid, I told you so, I have been with him since the beginning so I think I know more about this Gaki than you do."**

"Enough out of you Kyuubi until I have talked to him. It is going to be hard enough to full explain things with you keep interrupting me."

**"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."**

Over the next four hours, Hikaru talked to Naruto about everything that he would be taught over the years. They made plans and then the real mind screwer happened. Naruto learned of the events that lead up to the sealing of the Kyuubi. It was Orochimaru's fault that things had turned out the way they had. Orochimaru being pissed over not being selected as the Forth, decided that he would summon demons and bound them in a way similar to a summoning contract with other animals. The process was successful for summoning, but when he couldn't control the Kyuubi and seal him in a contract, he placed a powerful Genjutsu on him over powering him with rage and directed him to Konoha. After the seal was in place, the genjutsu wore off and the Kyuubi was able to think for himself. The three of them came to an understanding and began working together to come up with a solution that would be able to satisfy all parties involved.

The first task at hand was training Naruto. Without full training, he would not be able to do the things the others needed. To start the training, they would need help and that help would come from the Hokage. Determined to see him tomorrow, they started with the most fundamental thing he would need, an education. Being three did not give them many things to do, so they went to the library and started top get the books that would be needed for the first part of Naruto's training. The books were books on everything from basic politics to weapons to chakra control and manipulation. Most of the books had to be smuggled out of the library since no one would let him read them without raising suspicions. The following day he went to see the Hokage.

--Hokage Tower--

It was an interesting site that greeted the ANBU guards stationed outside of the Hokage's office. They knew that the boy contained the Demon, but they also knew that he was not the demon itself. After long hours of working with the Third, they were able to come to the realization of the truth.

"What can we do for you today Naruto?"

"I need to see the Hokage. I need a favor from him if he is not too busy."

"I think that can be arranged." said the other ANBU before knocking on the door.

"Come in."

"Hokage-sama, Uzumaki Naruto is here and he would like to see you."

"Send him in." replied the Hokage setting aside his paperwork.

Naruto entered the office and walked over to the seat in front of the Hokage's desk. Naruto bowed before taking the seat and the ANBU left the room.

"Jiji, I need a favor."

"Oh, and what is the favor you are requesting?"

"I need some help with a few things, though it will be in the future, but I would like to set things up now so that they will be ready."

"Thoughtful of you, but what do you need?"

"I need some help with a couple of seals for something special. I can't do it on my own. If you are willing to help me, then there is something that can help the both of us and anyone else that you see fit to include in this arrangement."

"Naruto, this doesn't sound like you, you are only three where is this language coming from?"

"I meet a Kami that has given me some help and shone me a few things, and how to do certain things, but I can't do it on my own. The Kami told me about the Kyuubi and has given me something to help with him. Another person who is capable of controlling the Kyuubi and teaching us a lot of valuable things. Right now his consciousness is locked within me just like the Kyuubi. He is helping me with a lot of things including me language and understanding."

"I am not sure about this Naruto, how can I believe you?"

"I can let him use my body for a brief amount of time if that will help you?"

"Let me talk with him then."

Naruto's eyes glazed over for a second and then a new look entered them. "Hello Hokage-sama, or should I call you Sarutobi-sama?"

"Who exactly are you?"

"My name is Hikaru and I am someone with a vast amount of knowledge about Konoha, its future and a few other tidbits of information that will help things considerably in the long run. If you are willing to take me on faith then I have a lot to offer, if you need proof before taking me at my word, then let me know what I will need to do for you to trust me."

"First off, before I get to the part of trusting you, I would like to here about this deal with the Kami that Naruto mentioned and how you are involved with this"

"Easy enough. I come from a slightly different world. In my world I was a normal man that enjoyed several different activities including watching things like anime and reading manga. On my world, Konoha was part of a series that is called Naruto since the story was about his life. I also enjoyed several other series as well. I was involved in an accident that should have killed me, but because of my faith in certain things I was given another chance to help out with people, this will be my last stop before being able to regain a body for myself to live out the rest of my life. The Kami is called the Lord of Nightmares in some realities, but truthfully she is just an incarnation of pure Chaos. Since she believes and balance is needed for all things just like chaos is needed for all things, she has sent an element of chaos that will bring the balance needed to this world. As a result, I am here to help and to set things right before they fall apart like they did before. Part of the deal was coming back in time to train Naruto for the things he already knows about. The other part is to get you and the other two Sannins ready for what is coming in the years ahead. I know that this is a little hard to accept and for that I have a piece of information that will help you to believe me. First, has the Cloud dignitaries arrived yet?"

"How, how did you know about them, the meetings are secret and they will be leaving tomorrow?"

"Kuso! What time is it?"

"Well it is about ten at night seeing as how long we have been talking."

"Kuso, come with me and please hurry."

Naruto jumped out through the window and hurried to where the Hyuuga manor was located, right when he got there he saw a nin jumping over the wall with a bundle in his hands. As he was about the run away, another man come from behind him.

"Matte!" Naruto yelled, and the nin holding the bundle looked behind and dodged the blow and that set him up for the attack Naruto was preparing. "Source of all power, Wind which sweeps across sky and earth. Gather in my hand and give me strength! Digger Bolt!" With that said a bolt of yellow lightning went straight toward the nin with the bundle and hit him shocking him into unconsciousness. The other nin went to him and grabbed tha bundle in his arms and held it close to his chest before moving over to the man. "Matte! He is already down and if you keep him alive then he can give you valuable information." Naruto said while walking up to the man with completely white eyes. The Hokage saw everything and made his presence known.

"Hold, Haishi. Naruto has a point."

"As you wish Hokage-sama, I owe him that much seeing as how he helped take down the man."

After a few minutes the ANBU came and took the nin away discovering that the nin's identity was that of the Cloud ambassador. Realizing what they had to bargain with, they left him in prison and contacted the cloud.

"Well it seems that you do know a thing or two about what you are talking about. By the way, what was the technique you used on that shinobi, it is nothing like the Raiton ninjutsus that I have seen."

"That is because it isn't a ninjutsu. I have learned about different things and can teach others if you will help in the training of Naruto."

"I think we might be able to arrange something. What do you have in mind"

The two of them went back to the Hokage tower to tlak and eneded up talking through out the night over the training for Naruto and the things that the Hokage would need to know about. This was going to be the start of a whole new Konoha and it looked to have a bright future.


	3. Chapter 3

Starting over  
Chapter 3  
Disclaimer: See first chapter

--Two years later--

Throughout the last three years, Naruto has been training his mind almost non stop with the help of his two tenants and the Hokage. A few other people have also been brought in on the side project that has just been completed. The Hokage had agreed to doing the building of a house with the designs given to him by Hikaru through Naruto and within the first year the house had been finished. The last years had been used to create the seals and slowly activate the seals needed for the house to provide for its true purpose. No all of the preparations had been completed it was time for the house to become active. The people in attendance would be the people with access to the house other than Naruto and they would be receiving their first experience of what the house could do in a few minutes. The people gathered where the Hokage, Hatake Kakashi,Maito Gai, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuuhi Kurenai, Uzumaki Naruto and Anko. Once everyone was gathered at the house. Jiryia began the final sequence of the seals and completed the final seal to activate the house. Once finished a giant hour glass appeared and the door turned into a blood red steel door.

"Thank you for all of your help." said Naruto as he stepped up to the door and the hour glass. "With your help, we have been able to do something that will help this village become the greatest of all of the Hidden Villages. Unfortunately I have a price to ask of each of you before allowing you to use this house. You all know about the Kyuubi within me, but I also have other knowledge besides that. I know that each of you consider yourselves true ninja and look underneath the underneath. You see me as Naruto and not the Kyuubi. As such, I would like to ask each of you to train me and in return you and the teams that you will receive in the future will be able to use this building. But before you agree one way or another, I would like for you to know what this building does, and for that I need one of you to remain outside, at first I would it to be the Hokage since he already knows what this does, as such it will be a surprise for the rest of you. What do you say?"

The Hokage stood and motioned for the rest of them to follow Naruto while saying, "You have my blessings and please everyone trust Naruto with what he tells you. You will be in for a wild ride."

Naruto walked into the house followed by everyone except for Jiryia and the Hokage. "So Sarutobi-sensei, do you think that this is going to work?"

"Given the full set of seal that I was shown I have do doubt about it and we will see interesting things from this group of people."

--Inside the house--

Once the last member of their party entered the house, the door shut and locked. The adults quickly turned around and went to the door to try and open it. After a few minutes of trying, Kakashi was about to use a ninjutsu when he was stopped by Naruto.

"It is no use, the door is here but not at the same time. The door will open in a year's time, but not before then. The house itself is sealed outside of the normal flow of time. The year we spend in here will be but a day on the outside. There are a few other things going on with it but you don't need to worry about them yet. All I ask is that you trust me for the first month and then if you don't believe me by then, you may do whatever you like, either way you have a year of mission free time."

With that said, Naruto walked to the back of the house and then looked behind him. "I think the first thing we should do is make the room assignments."

After the first week of doing everyday work and relaxing around the house Maito Gai decided that he was going to go outside in the back yard for some training on his own. When he went to the back door, he saw Naruto standing in what looked like a training field doing push-ups and sit-ups before slowly walking over to a punching post and slowly starting to punch the post. Knowing that this is simple work-out Gai thought he would join in with Naruto, he took a step out onto the grounds and promptly fell on his face. Not knowing what was going on he looked up to see Naruto stopped, and slowly walking over to him.

"If you are wearing weights, I suggest you take then off in the kitchen before coming out here," he said sitting next to Gai.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this training area is controlled by about six different seals. The first seal selects the location of the environment from rocky cliffs to this nice training area. The second seal controls the weather conditions. The third seal controls the lighting conditions from sun up to sundown. The fourth seal controls the wildlife bushins in the area. The fifth seal is another time seal. And the sixth seal controls the gravity of the environment. Right now the gravity of this place is three times normal, so if you are wearing about 300kg of weight, it is now more like 900kg, plus your own body weight is tripled. The advanced gravity seal allows for more advanced weight training that helps the whole body not just the individual areas that you wear the weights."

"Ah, how do you know this?"

"Well, I helped develop the seals for the house, I designed them, but I didn't have the chakra control or stamina to actually make the seals. That is why I needed help and that is also the reason why I need help training. I can offer you and anyone else who trains with me and helps me an even greater advantage."

Gai thought for a moment before using his chakra to lift himself up off the ground and removed his weights. He looked over to Naruto and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and help him.

After that the two of them would practice everyday for a few hours to the rest of the people, but to them they trained for a full day do to the additional time seal of the room. After that, Kurenai noticed something that the others didn't yet. They knew that they were stuck for a year, she knew they didn't have enough food in the fridge for all of them for a full year. Slowly she noticed that the food supply never dwindled and then she asked Naruto about it.

"Naruto, you know everything about this house right?"

Tired after his training with Gai, he sat at the table after opening the fridge and getting himself all of the fixings for a large sandwich. "Yeah, I did help design this house as I said when we first came in."

"How is there going to be enough food for all of us for the year you say we will be in here?"

"Oh that is easy. The fridge has a special set of seals that allow it to create food when it gets below half full. Most of the time you would never notice the food being refilled due to the how quick the food goes around here."

That made a little since. Then she noticed that Naruto a had changed a little in the time they had been here, he grew slightly taller and he seemed to have more muscle mass than a normal five year old shinobi should have. "What have you been doing Naruto? It seems as if you have gotten a bigger in the three weeks we have been here."

"I have been training with Gai-sensei and I am about ready to show each of you the real reason I brought you here. If you could get everyone outside in the back yard, I would appreciate it very much."

"OK." With that Kurenai left the kitchen to gather up the others. An hour later, everyone as gathered in the backyard, Naruto having already reset the gravity to standard.

"Now that everyone is here, I think it is about time to show everyone else what Gai has already found out and decide if you are going to be willing to help me with training, or if you are just going to take a year vacation. Gai, will you go ahead and set the sixth seal to the second setting?"

"Sure, everyone hold onto something, this is going to be interesting." Gai went over to the door and opened a panel, behind the panel there were sixth large seals with what looked like a wheel in the center of the seal. Going to the last seal in the set, biting his figure, Gai made the seal set and added a spoke to the last wheel. Kurenai and Asuma suddenly found themselves on the ground while Kakashi ended up kneeling.

"I helped design this training area and to help train people for every possible outcome, Hokage-sama and Jiriya helped me with the seals I designed for this training area. Right now you are under twice the normal amount of gravity that you are used to. The gravity is only of the things that can be altered in this training area. If you are willing to help train me to be the best, then I will be more than willing to teach you things that have never been seen mush less been copied. I know about your Sharingan eye Kakashi-san. I would like to porve my point about it if you are willing to use it on me while I demonstrate something."

Kakashi nodded remembering what the Hokage said to him before asking him to join them on this little trip. He raised is protecter and exposed the Sharingan. Naruto looked over to the training posts and selected the middle post as his target. Closing his eyes and focusing on what Hikaru taught him, he finally opened his eyes and spoke.

"Source of all power, Light which burns beyond crimson, let your power gather in my hand. Fireball!" As he spoke, a small breeze gathered around Naruto and focused inside his cupped hands until he said the final word and then a ball of fire was between his hands. He threw the fireball at the training post and the training post was reduced to ashes as if hit with a powerful Katon jutsu. The others minus Gai where standing in shock as this happened, but non more than Kakashi since he was unable to copy whatever technique he used.

"This is a power that cannot be copied since it doesn't quite use chakra."

"What do you mean doesn't quite use chakra?" asked Kakashi while lowering his head protecter back into place.

"Well, it isn't quite chakra since it only uses half of chakra." Getting nothing but confused looks from everyone he decided to explain a little further. "Chakra is the combination of physical energies and spiritual energies correct?" He got nods from everyone and a few curious looks on top of that since a five year old boy gave a genin level answer for chakra. "Well what I just did was use only the spiritual side of chakra called mana. In truth what chakra is is the combination of both Chi and Mana. If you know how, you can separate the two of them into their base forms and use them both longer than a normal ninja can use their chakra, and since most people have no clue about the powers of chi and mana, they over look it. I have learned to separate and learned a few things that work for my small body, Gai-sensei has been helping me train on my dodging and defense for the demonstration of chi. I would like either Kurenai or Asuma to help with this demonstration."

Asuma stepped forward, "What do you want me to do." he had gotten used to the advanced gravity faster than Kurenai so he thought it would be better for him to give it a try.

"Actually it is going to be a little difficult for you, but I want you to try and hit me, but only use about half your strength, the only thing I am going to do is dodge until I use the technique, but I need you to come at me like we are teaching me to dodge, do you think you can do that?"

"Easily, shall we begin?"

"First let everyone move back please, since I don't want anyone else to get caught up in the technique." Once everyone was on the outskirts of the training area, Asuma started to try and hit Naruto. He started upping the level he was using as he gauged how far Naruto could go. Naruto on the other hand was keeping himself cool and composed for the technique, slowly he started to rib Asuma since he was having trouble with the higher gravity and started moving around in a circle faster and faster pulling Asuma into the circle. Right when the taunting got under Asuma's skin enough to start going all out, Naruto had reached the dead center of the clearing and threw a sloppy uppercut to Asuma who dodge jumping. Unfortunately, this worked against him since right at the moment of the jump, a small tornado sprang up around him and trapped him inside. Noticing that he was trapped, he tried to use a burst of chakra to get out of the tornado, but the burst actually made the tornado that much stronger. After about five minutes inside the tornado, the technique finished and dropped and unconscious Asuma right next to Naruto. The others, even Gai were impressed that a child had knocked out a jounin with one technique and never lifting a figure other the sloppy punch that never even connected.

"That is what Chi can do. The technique requires the attacker to produce heat from strong emotions such as anger, while the technique user, produces cold chi. Just like a natural tornado, when the two follow each other in a spiral and meat in the center, the tornado is formed, the tornado is sustained by the person in the middle's chi or chakra, as long as they fight against it, they make the tornado more powerful. I know about several other techniques dealing with chi, but cannot use them yet since I don't have the body for them yet, but I can train you in the spiritual aspects of using mana, and then chi if ya'll would be willing to train my body enough as well as teaching me the normal techniques."

To say that the audience awoke as impressed would be an understatement. They were down right floored. If he knew things bigger and better than this and could teach them, and others, then the Hidden Leaf Village would no doubt become the best in the world.

-- Eleven months later--

Time had been spent well in that year. Everyone had grown more than expected. The jounins now had a simple grasp of chi and mana and could preform certain abilities just as well as Naruto could in the beginning of their time inside. Naruto on the other hand. He had grown more powerful in the mana aspect and learned a few standard techniques. The time had come for them to leave, and they were ready to go outside and find out how long they had been gone. The door opened and they stepped out to be greeted by not only the Hokage, but by Jiriya and a full squad of ANBU.

"So how was your trip?" asked the Hokage.

"How long were we gone?"

"Right at twenty-four hours to the minute. I was going to give it another minute before removing the seals and coming inside myself."

"All of the seals worked perfectly Hokage-sama. I can't thank you enough for helping me. I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you, Jiriya and the rest of my guests out of ear shot of everyone for a few minutes, if you don't mind Hokage-sama."

"Of course," the Hokage looked over to the ANBU and dismissed them with a wave of his hand. "Now what did you want to talk about?"

"It is the other little side affects of the seals and their combinations as well as the use of this building. The seals slow time while allowing everyone inside the time of a year in a day, normally this slow down would allow a person to physically mature for a year in that time, but I think it would look suspicious if people went in one day and came out with a major growth spurt a day later, as a result, I used the seals to limit the aging of the people to the same passage of time outside. Physical conditioning will still improve as normal, but the aging is slowed. Even though we have been inside for a year we have only aged a day. Because of this there are a few drawbacks to this. The house can only be used once a week because of the time for the seals to recharge. The other is that a person my only use the house once a month since the strain would be too great on a person to go in more often."

"I see, so what does each of you have to say about what you have just experienced?"

Kakashi spoke first, "Hokage-sama, I believe that everything Naruto said is true and I also believe that this is an opportunity that should not be wasted. The techniques he has taught us cannot be copied by anything and must be learned normally, further more, he used a technique in the first month that completed took out Asuma with out ever even touching him."

"You just had to bring that up didn't you." Asuma said with a slight frown.

"I believe that Naruto is ready to be a genin since he already know every single technique required to be a genin and is more closely a chunnin in ability after the year spent training him."

"What do you feel about this Kurenai?" asked Jiriya

"I agree wholeheartedly. He has the skills."

"Well what about you Naruto, what do you think?" asked the Hokage."I know several more things coming that we need to prepare for. I am willing to do things to help you out, but I need to be in the academy for certain other things. If you can put me in Iruka's class then it would help immensely."

"Why do you want to be in Iruka's class?"

"That is something I need to talk to you in private about. I suggest we go ahead and talk about it at the Hokage tower if you don't mind Hokage-sama."

"As you wish Naruto."

"By the way everyone is going to need two to three days off for the effects of the house to were off them."

Kakashi was about to ask what effect when he and the other three jounins collapsed.

"Whoops, I thought they would have handled the transition better. They will be asleep for about a day and then they will need to take it easy for a little while longer after that. Hokage-sama, could you please build me a new house near here since I need to be in charge of this house?"

"Of course, after we talk about more pressing matters, we will work on the new house for you since you are going to be giving us even more than we can give you. I just wish there was something we could do about the way the villagers treat you.""Don't worry about it Hokage-sama. They are just giving me reasons to improve and grow."

Over the next year, things began to get better for Naruto. He got a new house and now lived with Iruka and Kakashi in the same house. The three of them trained often and Iruka was let into the circle to know about everything dealing with Naruto. Over the next year, Naruto became the person ANBU assistant of the Hokage. Only those of the circle of friends were allowed to know the identity and of the 'baby demon ANBU' that was with the Hokage once a week. In school, Naruto acted like a normal average student so that things would look better for him. Little did anyone other than Naruto know, but things would be taking an interesting turn in a few weeks.


	4. Chapter 4

Starting Over

Chapter 4: The Uchiha Massacre

After all of the time spent with his new friends and family, Naruto also started to make friends with the others in his classroom. He started to get Sasuke to open up to him and became his friend, he was not going to let things turn out worse than they did in the original timeline. He knew the massacre would be coming soon, he just didn't know when. He also made friends with Hinata and got here to come out of her shell more. The fact that he helped save her was a major factor to him being friends with the head Hyuuga family and Neji's family as well.

Over the year, Naruto had been back inside the training house four more times, each time with a different one of the jounins. Gai had been the first since his physical training methods allowed him to gain more of the physical aspects of chi and fully merge his growing mana and chi into the standard chakra. He still remembered the time back in the original year that Gai and decided to make his bet with Kakashi over who would learn the chi techniques the fastest.

-- Flashback --

Inside the training room, Naruto with the help of Hikaru set the training field to a forest with boulders and set up the swing and boulders for the breaking point technique training. Shortly there after, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, and Kakashi arrived to see the set up for the training. "OK I have finished the primary set up, we are going to do this in two parts, Gai and Asuma will partner and Kakashi and Kurenai will partner up. Now that you are partnered, one set yourself in the harness and the other follow me up into the trees." Naruto started walking up the tree like Kakashi had taught him last week. When he made it to the top, he created a Kage Bushin and allowed Hikaru to take over.

"Sorry for the late introductions, but my name is Hikaru. I know that the Hokage has informed you of the deal we have made and now we are going to be starting the process of full release and training. Kyuubi will not be coming out for a little while since Naruto's bushins cannot handle the power that would come with the Kyuubi. The first stage is going to be easy to a degree, Naruto go ahead and set yourself in the harness while I prepare for the other two for their tasks."

Naruto went over and took his place by Kakashi for the training. Kakashi had decided that this training would be easy so once he was in his harness that had only one figure free for motion, used his skills to set up a book holder for his latest copy of Ichi Ichi Paradise. Kurenai took one look at the book and started to see red. Gai on the other hand scoffed and told Kakashi.

"You will not learn this technique if you are not paying attention. I will learn this technique before you or I will do 1000 squats in 5 times gravity, failing that I will do 2000 hand standing push-ups in 5 times gravity with my weights. . ." He continued on for a while before Kakashi looked over at him.

"What, did you say something?"

"Kakashi, you and your 'hip' ways will not allow you to beat me this time."

By now the three on the other side of the trees were ready. "This si going to be a painful experience for all of you before this is over. The three of us are going to release these boulders at you. Gai, Kakashi, and Naruto, your job is to find the central breaking point and send a small amount of straight chi into the boulders to destroy them. If you don't get it right, you will get hit, it is as simple as that. Ready?"

Getting a nod from the three, Asuma, Hikaru and Kurenai released the boulders. A few seconds before the boulders hit the three of them, Kurenai sent a rock flying at high speeds right at Kakashi, unfortunately for him, so was so engrossed in his book that he didn't see it in time and took the rock straight to the family jewels right before the boulder hit him causing him even more pain. None of the three that were hit with the boulders performed the technique the first time. Kakashi had it worse though since his pain was triple what the others had. Asuma and even Gai felt pity for Kakashi, but there were other things that needed to be done so training commenced again.

It took another three weeks of this intense training before all of them mastered the technique. What really made things worse of everyone to speed up the training, Hikaru upped the gravity once a week until they mastered the technique at three times normal gravity. The results paid off when a nasty argument over language and volume occurred between Gai and Kurenai. While Naruto and Asuma were playing go, Kakashi was reading his book for the hundredth time, giggling and blushing like a school girl, Gai was talking about training with Kurenai for the coming month.

"We need more gravity training and harder course to increase the effects of training for the chi techniques."

"No, we need to do more meditation for the mana growth and spells, we need them more than the stupid chi techniques."

Asuma placed his next stone while talking softly to Naruto, "I have a bad feeling about where that conversation is going to go."

"I know how you feel, but there is nothing we can do about it. With the training at a higher level than Hikaru is used to, there should be some interesting side effects."

"Hum?"

"Just watch."

The conversation between the two got louder and louder before Kakashi decided that they were loud enough and started to throw his own two cents. "Why can't you two just use both and shut up for once, I can't even enjoy this book with you two yelling!"

Kurenai got a nasty look in her eye before pulling out a kunai and throwing it at Kakashi were it would do the most damage, mainly his family jewels. When the blade hit since it was too close to dodge, everyone but Naruto got a shock when the blade simply tore threw the jounin's clothes and then bounced off his skin before cracking on the floor.

"That wasn't supposed to happen. I guess additional gravity had a different effect than you thought Hikaru." said Naruto out loud before looking into himself.

"_Well I knew that it would work better, but I didn't think it would work on toughening quite that much._"

"Well now we know not to do that again."

"**Hey Kit, how about we leave the adults and go work on the other techniques that you still have to learn form me?**"

"Sounds good to me."

With that he left and missed a very unusual sight of Kurenai chasing Kakashi around until Gai made mention of the 'Passions of Youth' continuing to burn even into the adults like him. Unfortunately, the training in the breaking technique also improved strength and the strength went right threw the addition physical conditioning of the training. Gai was belted across the house by and irate Kurenai before turning her attention back to Kakashi. Asuma just sat there and wondered if getting Kurenai laid would clam here down.

-- End Flashback--

Unfortunately without the constant effects of gravity upon them like in the training house, they lost the over powering effects of the breaking point training, but kept the standard toughening that allowed them to take hits that would make a stone nin cry out in pain. Getting the new house and his guess on the other hand took a little extra doing.

-- Flashback --

It was a month after the training house had been used and Naruto was going to Ichiraku Ramen for his dinner. That is where he meet his soon to be teacher, Umino Iruka. Looking at the newly appointed chunnin academy teacher, Naruto decided to start a conversation with him. After a few hours talking to him and getting to know the chunnin he decided to go for the gusto.

"I have had a good time talking with you umm, sorry I forgot to ask your name."

"Iruka, Umino Iruka, and yours?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

The look on the chunnin's face said that he knew exactly who Naruto was and couldn't believe that the person he was talking to was the 'demon' that had killed his family.

"Would you like to come and meet my other friends?" asked Naruto while starting to use the dreaded Puppy Eyes no Jutsu. Iruka didn't stand a chance and decided to follow him. After a long walk, they finally arrived at he house that had been completed two days ago. There in front of the house starting to move boxes in was Kakashi and the Hokage was there talking to him.

"Hey Kakashi-niichan, Hokage-sama!"

"Hello Naruto-kun, how are you doing today, and who do you have with you?"

"This is Iruka-sensei. He is teaching at the academy and I meet him while having dinner tonight."

"I see, so how are you doing tonight Iruka?"

"Fine Hokage-sama, what is going on?"

"A few things that would be better discussed inside I believe, since Naruto obviously trusts you with where he is living now." They walking inside the house and began a five hour conversation over tea with the Hokage, Kakashi, Iruka, Naruto, Hikaru (Kage Bushin), and Kyuubi (Kage Bushin). The year in the training house has paid off allowing Naruto to create a Kage Bushin with more mana than chi in the chakra to support Kyuubi. Once a lot of the explanations were over, Naruto began telling them about what he remembered from his original time and what things they could do to stop it. After telling Iruka about his other self, the man starting opening up more and began to seriously believe what he was being told. The fact that the Hokage and another jounin were backing up his story also added a lot of credit to the child. After the conversation, they cam to an understanding that Iruka would help with a lot of things like the times he would have to be away from the academy, and Hikaru would help teach the chunnin the arts of mana and chi. Just when they thought everything was said and done, Iruka surprised everyone by saying.

"Hokage-sama, is Kakashi going to be living here permanently with Naruto?"

"Yes, is there a problem with that?"

Iruka looked at the Hokage as if he had grown a second head before speaking, "You can't be serious! If Naruto is left in the hands of Kakashi for too long, he is going to become a late, lazy pervert reading the same things that Kakashi does. I won't stand for someone I see as a little brother be corrupted by him."

"And what, prey tell, are you going to do about it and when did you start seeing Naruto-kun as a little brother?" asked Kakashi putting down his book and looking a the chunnin.

"That is simple, I will just have to move in as well to help safe guard Naruto, as well as keeping an eye on you. And as for when I started seeing him as a little brother, that would be at Ichiraku's this evening. He wormed his way into my heart then, and only buried deeper after the talks we have been having tonight."

"That is good to know that some things won't change from one time to another, maybe some of the girls will actually give Naruto the time of day this time around." said Kyuubi before nodding to Naruto who had passed out on the couch some time ago.

"I will take him to bed before these bushins were out and we leave." said Hikaru, gather Naruto up and taking him to his room."

"I really hope things will turn out better for the kit." said Kyuubi before dispelling himself.

Things got into a routine after the first week. Naruto week to the academy and when needed Naruto took off for the Hokage Tower for his assignments from the Hokage while Iruka gave him the excuses he needed.

-- End Flashback --

Now the time had come for the next phase of helping hands to come into play. It would be another two weeks before the Uchiha Massacre was to happen and it was time to put the beginnings of his plan into play. He knew from the Hokage that Itachi was not the evil person that would destroy his clan, the only problem was that he needed to find out how it was going to go down, and for that he he would need to talk to Itachi in person.

Naruto made his way to the ANBU Headquarters to find Itachi. He wore the robes and face mask that identified him as the Hokage's 'little demon' and walked into the headquarters looking for his man. It was not long after entering that he found the ANBU wearing the weasel mask in a gray cloak. That could only be Itachi. Walking over, he motioned for permission to join the man at the cafeteria table he was sitting at.

"What can I do for you little demon? I assume the Hokage has asked you to do him a favor that would require some secrecy since he is not asking me directly."

"Actually what I have to discuss is on the secretive side, but this is personal curiosity and nothing having to do with the Hokage yet. I would prefer going somewhere a little more private for this conversation though if you don't mind."

"Lead the way," Itachi responded before getting up and motioning for Naruto to lead the way. After a good deal of walking through the town and deep into the forest, they finally stopped at the cave that Naruto and the Kyuubi used for a second home for practicing things that are better left not known to Konoha. Here they entered and both made themselves comfortable.

"I think it would be better if we were completely honest with each other and to show that I suggest we remove our masks and let everything out into the open."

"I agree, I have always wanted to know who it was that is the 'little demon' of the Hokage."

Itachi removed his mask and hood and then waited for Naruto to do the same. When Naruto removed his hood, the spiky blonde hair all but gave away who was under the mask. After he removed the mask, Itachi didn't know what to think, there was no way thins child, younger than him could be an ABNU. Itachi had broken Kakashi's record of advancement and become an ANBU captain at age 14, but this child was only six at the most.

"I know what you are thinking, how can a six year old be an ANBU that serves only the Hokage, and why would the Hokage trust the Kyuubi vessel to be his left hand. The answer is simple, if you don't mind some company. Kage Bushin no Jutsu." Two perfect shadow clones appeared and the clones were slightly different. While Naruto had amazing blue eyes, one of the clones had piercing red eyes, and the other had jade green eyes. "I would like to introduce you to Kyuubi, mister red eyes, and Hikaru, mister green eyes. They won't harm you and they are both quite friendly, once you get past Kyuubi's arrogance and Hikaru's riddles."

Itachi didn't know what to think. He was sitting in a cave lair out in the middle of the Konoha forest with someone half his age that the Hokage trusted his A class assassination mission, a shadow clone of the great of the Youkai and another shadow clone of someone he didn't even know. To day that he was getting nervous on the inside was an understatement. The fact that he didn't show any signs of it on the outside is the only due to his extensive training as a shinobi of the Leaf.

"Now, to prove that we are not a threat to you and that I merely wish to have a conversation about your family and the things to come in the future, Kyuubi is going to do nothing but play shogi with Hikaru while the two of them throw their two cents into the conversations that we are going to have, any problem with that?"

"We shall see."

"Good, Kyuubi-sama would you be kind enough to get the shogi board for us?" asked Hikaru while stretching out.

"But if course, and if you cheat this time, I will personally rip off what you have for a head when we get back inside the kit's head."

"Wonderful aren't they?" asked Naruto with sarcasm just dripping off his every word. Itachi thought he was losing his mind. How can this be happening. "I know that his is a little hard to take in, so we are going to give this some time to adjust. Is there anything you would like to drink?"

"Water is fine if you have any in this cave."

"Coming right up." Naruto went to the back of the cave and came out with a couple glasses and a pitcher of water that looked to be made of clay. "This is fresh from the well in the back of the cave, completely clean and a lot more refreshing than the purified water in Konoha. It takes a little getting used to the earthy taste, but it is really good. Now comes the important questions. How about this, we play it twenty questions style with you asking a question and me giving a completely honest response and then I ask you a question and you response completely honestly as well. How about that?"

"OK, first question. How did you become the left hand of the Hokage, if you are only six years old?"

"Easy, I am not truthfully six, I am more likely around 17. I lived for 14 years and then due to an unfortunate turn of events, I was nearly killed. I was given the choice of dying and taking the Kyuubi with me, or going back in time and helping to create a better future without screwing up the timelines too badly, I choose to come back and the Kami that sent me back gave me some help in the form of Hikaru being sealed inside me as well as the Kyuubi. With his help I have been able to set things up to get trained faster than any other ninja in the village with the help of the Hokage and four jounins who know everything that you now know. My knowledge of certain future events and the powers I have been giving the jounins who help train me allow me to fulfill the more tactical side of being the left hand of the Hokage. Kyuubi and Hikaru teaching me more strategy games and practices with Asuma-sensei have helped a lot as well. Now for my question. How well do you know and trust your family, and not just your immediate family?"

"Interesting question, and I assume you are going to elaborate on that later. My father is completely trustworthy for the most part. He like all ANBU and former ANBU are loyal to a fault, as you already know. My mother is kind and doesn't like to get into the politics of the family. Sasuke is a normal little brother, always wanting to be just like me. I love him, but I don't want him to have the same life I have right now. Father is pushing him to be as good as me and that is starting to take it's toll on him. I know that he is learning the basics of the Katon techniques and he is starting to get better with them looking for fathers approval. Other than that, I don't really like most of the family since they believe that we need a more powerful leader than the Sandaime since he is already to old and already passed the leadership over once. I believe they may be planning something, but I don't have a clue as to what. Now for my next question. Why is this a concern for you?"

"I already told you I am from the future. During my original timeline, in two weeks time, you are going to slaughter your entire family, leaving only Sasuke behind and even then, you kill your father and mother in front of Sasuke and then make him live it over and over again with the Tsukuyomi, a technique you acquire with the Mangekyou Sharingan, after you slaughter your best friend in a duel. I believe that the act of having to kill your best friend is what started you on a darker path. The trauma was too much for your mind to handle at the time, and after you accepted it, you turned cold and left Sasuke alive to kill you for penance. But I also believe that something else will come into play before this is all over. Question: Would you be willing to help me get to the bottom of all of this if I can save you and your family from being slaughtered, but the rest being taken care of."

"If they are setting something like this up, then I believe that it is my duty to help Konoha any way I can. I would be very appreciative of any help you can give me in this endeavor."

"Very well. Help me do some digging and I will see if I can't get you and your family to safety. Plus, if you will give me a hand in training in the standard shinobi techniques, I will teach you a few things that even the Sharingan can't copy. Interested?"

"Let's see how this turns out and then go from there."

"That is another 50,000 ryou you owe me Kyuubi." said Hikaru who just finished his game with the Kyuubi.

"How do you figure that?"

"One, that is 25,000 ryou for the game and you said double or nothing that Itachi would be a heartless freak who would not go for any of the deals."

"Fine mister know-it-all, you'll get your money once we get free of the kit and then we can all go our separate ways."

Three people just laughed while Itachi just sat there and wondered if he had done the right things coming here and getting involved with the 'little demon'.

To be continued. . .

Author's notes:

To be honest, I had to cut this chapter in half, too much going on for one chapter in my tastes. I have gotten a couple of reviews about the slayers aspect of it and can say for certain, anything originally Lina's will not be in it. That includes Yum! and Giga Slave. Things that other magic users can ready and translate like the Dragon Slave and some of the others will be in it. Mostly more of the white and shamanic spells, and basic sorcery spells. I know that Ragna Blade is out since Lina had to go to the true Claire Bible to get that spell.

By the way, some of you may be wondering about the set up of the training house. The house itself is set up similar to many traditional legacy houses. The house is in a square fashion with a training yard and garden in the center. This is the training yard that the six seals control. The front of the house with the main door contains a common room, dining room and library. The left side of the house from the front door is the living quarters with five bed rooms on each side of the hallway and two furos at the end of the hall. The right side of the house form the front door, contains rooms with a few chemical labs for medical research and a small infirmary. The back of the house is where the kitchen and laundry rooms are located. If you have any questions I can answer without giving anything away of the story, drop me a line. Also, I am going to let you decide who gets who. Vote for your favorite pairing till I get to the Chunnin Exam. Pairings are as follows:

Naruto/Sakura

Naruto/Hinata

Naruto/Ino

Naruto/Tenten

Naruto/Temari

Naruto/Haku (female only)

Naruto/multi

I am not going into pairings other than these so don't ask. The other couplings are going to be jounin and I already have them planned. If I have time and it doesn't affect the story then I might add a few other supporting character interactions.

Dark Knight: The LightHawk


	5. Chapter 5

Starting Over Chapter 5: Uchiha Massacre Part 2  
Disclaimer: See first chapter

-- Two weeks the after meeting with Itachi--

Everything had been set. After some intensive investigations, it was found out that the Uchiha Clan Council had decided that Naruto himself was a true demon that needed to be gotten rid of. They had a plane to kill off the Sandaime Hokage and then blame it on Naruto. Since most of the village still saw him as a demon, it would be easy. Then they could send Itachi after the boy, have him kill him and then control Itachi and thus Konoha from the background. The only things they didn't consider was one, Itachi wouldn't go what they wanted him to do, and two, their plans had been found out. Unfortunately for them, they made a bitter deal with the devil. A devil by the name of Orochimaru. With Itachi's help, the two of them found the council meeting grounds under the Uchiha manner and found all of the evidence they would need to go to the Hokage. Unfortunately, they also found something very disturbing as well. They found a hidden folder outlining the giving of Sasuke to Orochimaru for his assistance in the over throwing of the Sandaime Hokage. They needed to do something about this so they decided to act.

The night before the scheme was to take place, Itachi used Nemurihane no Jutsu (Feathery Sleep Technique) to put his family to sleep and put extra chakra into the technique to extend the time they would be under the sleep to more than two days, long enough for the plan to be followed through. Itachi and Naruto, wearing their ANBU robes and masks, waited for the show to start. They didn't have to wait long after sunset. They saw Orochimaru enter the Uchiha compound. Moments later, the massacre started. Orochimaru left no one alive and did it all under the Henge of Itachi, he was looking for something. They knew he was looking for Itachi. And soon he would find him, but not before they were ready. Just as he came to the house that belonged to Itachi's family, he was stopped by four jounin. The jounin were joined by Itachi and Naruto. Now things were going to get interesting.

"Been a long time Orochimaru," said Kakashi taking a neutral stance while lifting his forehead protecter revealing his single Sharingan. "Wouldn't be willing to give yourself up willing would you?"

"Ku ku ku, do you really believe that the six of you can even do anything to me, you must not value your lives very much," replied Orochimaru dropping his Henge.

"I take that as a no, well, what do you think people, should we go all out?"

"Nah, stick to what he knows and if we need to go further, I'll let you know," said the smallest one. He then he dropped into a stance and motioned for the others to do the same. Slowly they all dropped into different stances. The courtyard was quite with a small wind blowing through the air. Then, as if by an unseen signal, Asuma and Kakashi ran forward faster than Orochimaru predicted they could, but he was a Sannin after all so he was able to pump some of his vast amounts of chakra into his limbs to speed up his movements and dodging. Weaving in and out of the two attackers was getting to be a pain so he jumped up and onto the room of the compound starting rapid handseals. He finished the seals and then unleashed his technique.

"Doton: Douka Dorodomu no Jutsu!" (Vampire Mud Dome) Slamming his hands into the ground once he lands, a dome of mud erupted from around the group faster than they could react. Once trapped inside the dome, Orochimaru started to suck the chakra out of them and into himself.

"We need to get out of here fast, he is using this technique to drain us of our chakra while replenishing his own," said Asuma taking a knee.

"There is no way out, using techniques won't work against this and it would just waste what chakra we do have." replied Itachi also taking a knee.

Naruto just got a smile on his face and walked over to one of the walls. Testing his theory, he was proven right when a small chunk was blown out with the breaking point technique. "You might not have anything, but the rest of us do. Five point star, Itachi get in the middle and be ready to fly once we're through." Everyone moved into position while Itachi stayed where he was. He didn't know what they had in mind, but if it worked, so much the better. "Breaking point on my mark." Everyone nodded and took their place near the wall. "Ready, Kai!" All five of them released their breaking point technique with a uniformed cry and the dome was destroyed. Not one to waste time, Itachi flew out of the dust cloud to were Orochimaru was and went for the kill. The shocked look on his face was priceless as Itachi ran the sword straight through his neck. Unfortunately, right after his sword passed through Orochimaru's neck, the whole body collapsed into mud.

"Kuso! We lost him." said Itachi.

"Easy, we knew he was going to get away. What is important is that we did the job we were supposed to do in the first place. Got rid of the people trying to take over and made sure Orochimaru didn't get hat he wanted. Right now we need to get back to the Hokage and tell him the news. That means everyone and that also means now and not in two hours Kakashi," said Naruto before taking off.

"Hai, Hai, I will be there," Kakashi as he and the rest of them teleported to the Hokage tower to wait for their mission leader.

-- Hokage Tower --

At his desk, Sarutobi-sama watched the whole thing from his crystal ball. Knowing the others would be here momentarily, he put away the ball and prepared himself for the report. Not two minutes later there were five puffs of smoke revealing, Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, and Itachi.

"Hokage-sama" they chorused before taking their places around his office waiting for their leader. Not two minutes later, Naruto walked through the door. He walked up to the Hokage's desk and giving the Hokage a salute, Naruto began is oral report for the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama. It is just as Itachi-san and I believed. The majority of the Uchiha clan was in a deal with Orochimaru to overthrow you, blame me and then kill me and then put Itachi in place as a puppet leader. They also were going to give Orochimaru, Sasuke as a payment for his help. Orochimaru double crossed them and killed the majority of the clan, save one family that was put into hiding, using the guise of Itachi. We were not able to capture or kill Orochimaru, but he has left the area to lick his wounds so to speak. With regards to the primary objectives, we have achieved complete success. The secondary objective was a failure. If I had given the OK to use the additional techniques the group has been working with, it might have been a different story. For that I apologize Hokage-sama."

"There is no need to apologize Naruto-kun. If you had used the secret techniques and he had still gotten away, we would have lost the element of surprise for the future. I congratulate all of you on a fine job that you have done tonight. Now we need to decide how we are going to break the news to the rest of Konoha."

"Hokage-sama. I have an idea, but it will be up to you and Itachi."

"What is your suggestion Naruto-kun?"

"In my original timeline, after the Massacre, Itachi left to join an organization known as the Akatsuki. This group, for whatever reasons were never known, are after the Bijuu. In about six to seven years, they will be coming after me, and they originally sent Itachi and Kasame to capture me. They never succeeded but that still means they are a possibly threat in the future. My suggestion is to tell the village that Itachi did do the massacre, and left as a nuke nin, while in reality, he is going to be a double agent inside the Akatsuki, relaying valuable information about this organization back to us through Jiraiya. Jiraiya on the other hand can roam around gathering his information for his perverted books and contact Itachi at regular intervals with the information he uncovers."

"An interesting idea Naruto. It seems that you have come a long way in your training, and more than just your physical prowess I might add."

"Thank you Hokage-sama, I would like to request that Itachi's family be told of the real truth and be allowed to say goodbye to him before he leaves. They should be awake by morning."

"Very well, you have my blessing. Itachi, good luck in your mission."

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I will not fail you." said Itachi as he bowed and left.

"Hokage-sama, is there anything else I can do for you?" asked Naruto.

"I am afraid I have taken enough of your time. In fact, I am going to give you back some of your time. I don't think I am going to need your services anytime in the near future. I want you to concentrate on your training and your schooling. Which means no more skipping academy. You must be there, but you don't have to participate in class, you just have to be there. You need to start making more friends your own age."

"Why, I can still go to the Academy and still do the things I am doing now."

"Naruto, you need to be with kids your own age. I know that you mean well, and the training of additional techniques is very helpful, but I think it is time to cool off. Take this time and don't make me have to use force against you."

"Very well Hokage-sama. Will I still be able to use the training house with the others?"

"I don't see a problem with that. Have a nice day Naruto-kun."

-- Naruto's Cave, the next morning--

Naruto watched over Itachi as he prepared breakfast for the people due to be waking shortly. He decided that he would help prepare for the upcoming confrontation with Itachi's parents and brother. After some time, Itachi's father woke up. Not knowing where he was, he decided that desecration was needed. He woke his wife next to him and then his son on the other side of the stone room. After the three of them were awake, they tried the door, finding it open, they went outside to find out what kind of situation they were in. They followed the stone hallway to another door. Opening the door they found themselves in a dining room of sorts with a table in the middle. In the middle of the table was an assortment of fruits, several glasses, and a pitcher of hot tea. Sitting at the table was Itachi and another boy about Sasuke's age. Naruto looked up and noticed that all of them were staring at the sight of Itachi and himself sitting at the table. He motioned for them to join them while saying, "Good morning, I hope you slept well. I know the stone beds are not the most comfortable beds, but it beats being on the colder ground floors."

Taking a seat first, Uchiha Ichiro asked, "Why are we here, and where is here?"

"The where is easy, we are in a cave on the outskirts of Konoha's outer forest. The why is because Itachi asked me to bring you here. Of any other details, you will need to ask him."

"It would be easier for you to read this file of information then to listen to my answers Otou-san. These are directly from the Hokage's office and have his seal stating that they are legitimate," with that Itachi handed a rather large scroll over to his father.

Once Ichiro had read the scroll, he handed the scroll back to Itachi. He looked over to his wife and younger son and with a sad face said, "The rest of the clan is dead. They choose to act with an S-class criminal to take control of Konoha and kill the Sandaime Hokage."

Sasuke looked over to his father with a face of disbelief, "What do you mean Otou-san?"

"Some people in the clan believe that the Sandaime was too old to do the job properly, so they wished ti kill him and have someone else they thought they could control take his place. In order for their plans to work they needed the help of the S-class criminal and Sannin, Orochimaru. Unfortunately, Orochimaru could never be trusted and he slaughtered the entire clan, if not for Naruto's help hiding us in this place, we would have been slaughtered as well. The worst part is that Orochimaru used a henge to look like Itachi so the entire village believes that Itachi is the one who did it. He has been labeled an S-class criminal himself, even though he had nothing to do with it. The Hokage knows the truth and has decided to use Itachi as a spy for another organization that he has heard rumors about. Itachi is not going to be able to come back for a very long time."

"Itachi-niichan, please say it isn't so." cried Sasuke as he ran over to his brother. Itachi looked up and stopped his brother by flicking his forehead like he always did.

"Don't worry ototo, I will write you every chance I get, but I have to go. I want you get stronger, and in time, maybe you can help me take revenge for our clan. I want you to listen to father, he will help you in my place. Also, I would like for you to meet a good friend of mine. He is the one who owns this place and the one who helped keep you safe. His name is Uzumaki Naruto." When Itachi said the name, both Ichiro and Yumi (Sasuke's mother) were a little fearful. They knew that this boy was the carrier of the Kyuubi.

"Okaa-san, Otou-san, please believe me when I say that Naruto is a very good kid. Did you know that he lives with and is being trained by Hayate Kakashi?"

"What, are you sure?" asked Ichiro

"Very, in fact we have been invited to their place for one last meal together tonight with Naruto, Kakashi, and Iruka. Iruka also leaves with Naruto. Iruka is one of the Academy teachers and I believe he is also Sasuke's teacher as well." said Itachi trying to ease the situation.

"Yeah, he is my teacher and is very strict too." said Sasuke.

Yumi hesitated for a minute before adding her two cents, "Well, if he is being guarded by two good people, then maybe it will not be so bad," she whispered to her husband.

"If the Great Hatake Kakashi is going to be there, then who am I to refuse."

"Great, I think you will really like our place. We are going to be having a big meal sending off Itachi since he has been such a help to the Hokage and Kakashi-sensei."

After a few hours of walking, the group finally made it to Naruto's house, and there waiting for them was Kakashi sitting on the porch reading his book. The minute he saw them coming, he put the book away. Standing and greeting them, he invited them inside for dinner. Iruka was putting the last of the dishes out on the table when everyone came inside.

Dinner was a somber affair with lite discussion of different topics from training, to school, and work. After getting to know more about Naruto, Ichiro and Yumi decided that maybe the boy wasn't as bad as they thought. After the meal finally finished, Ichiro took Kakashi aside in private so that they could talk.

"Hayate-san, I know that you possess a single Sharingan eye, would you be willing to help train Sasuke and maybe help him develop his. I know he will eventually obtain the Sharingan just like his brother, but it may take longer," Ichiro asked.

"I can help with simple training, if you don't mind him training along side Naruto. He is the one I train. But then again, he trains me at times too," Kakashi said with a small laugh.

"What do you mean by that?" Ichiro said while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Under the supervision of Sarutobi-sama, Naruto has contacted the Kyuubi. He has managed to deal with the Kyuubi and learn a few things from his vast amount of knowledge. Naruto is not capable of actually performing any of the techniques, but he can give us the handseals, and describe what the techniques does to give us an advantage over any of the other countries."

"You mean, he can actually talk to the Kyuubi?"

"Talk is an understatement. He learned the Kage Bushin a few weeks ago and can transfer Kyuubi into one for a brief amount of time. I saw it and watched it carefully. Believe me when I tell you that the Kyuubi was not fully responsible for what happened. For that, we have Orochimaru to thank."

"What do you mean. I overheard the conversation between Naruto, Kyuubi and Sarutobi-sama. If he is to be believed, and I believe it having seen the way he acts now, Orochimaru attempted to bind Kyuubi to his will with a summoning contract. Since the contract has to have his permission to work correctly, all it did was call him and not allow control. Furiousat not being able to cotrol Kyuubi, he used some kind of genjutsu on Kyuubi to heighten his bloodlust and pointed him in our direction. He is trying to make amends for actions that weren't his complete fault. Naruto is the one how discovered this and got Kyuubi to help us be ready for the next time Orochimaru shows up."

"You have given me a lot to think about Kakashi. If you trust the kid and Kyuubi, and so does the Hokage, then I guess I will have to go with you on your judgment. I would still like for you to help train Sasuke, and if that means training with Naruto, then I don't see a major problem with it. Hopefully with a surrogate brother, Sasuke won't miss Itachi as much."

"Here's hoping to that. We train over the weekend since the Academy is out and I don't have missions on the weekends thanks to the agreement with Sarutobi-sama. You can bring him by any time before lunch since we train from noon to dusk. The only weekend we don't train is the first weekend of the month. We just rest on Saturday, and have strategy games all day Sunday."

"Thank you. I will bring Sasuke starting the second weekend of next month." With that said, Ichiro left to go with his family back home. They had a mass funeral to prepare for, and they couldn't let others know about what really happened. Itachi and Iruka came up beside Kakashi.

"I think things might turn out alright for Sasuke. With yours and Naruto's help, he has a better chance for a normal life," said Itachi preparing his bags.

"Take it easy out there Itachi. The world is no safer for a nuke-nin than anyone else. On top of that you will have the other countries hunter-nins after you," said Kakashi before heading for his room.

"Iruka, please take good care of both of them. I trust Kakashi to teach them the arts of being a ninja. I would like for you to teach them about being people as well. I don't what Sasuke to be just a tool of this village but something mor,." Itachi said before leaving for his trip.

"I will, don't worry. I care for Naruto like a little brother, and if things come out for them to be friends, then so much the better. I will help them both, you have my word."

"Thanks again," Itachi left in a cloud of smoke, teleporting to outside the walls of Konoha before making his way to the boarders of Fire Country.

Time passed slowly for the people of Konoha days became weeks and weeks became months. Soon it was a full year after the Uchiha Massacre and things were starting to become normal again. Sasuke trained with Naruto as much as his father let him. The two of them became fast friends. Naruto stopped his impressive growth of techniques, content with what he knew. He learned more taijutsu and still did physical training as with the aid of a gravity seal tattoo. After talking to Kakashi and Ichiro about it, they decided that they would give Sasuke a similar seal, only it was not as powerful since it had more precise control over gravity. The seal would be able to affect his gravity in tenths, were as Naruto's could only affect in fourths.

New friends meet old friends and a new circle of friendship and training partners was formed. Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Neji would train together once a month and teach each other new things. The academy also made time for them to meet other people. Naruto meet Shikamaru, a budding genius with a knack for strategy games. This prompted him to become friends with him and slowly start developing his mind more than anything.

He still kept in touch with the other three, of the original four jounins. Gai would still help him with his different taijutsu techniques in return for more chi technique ideas. Kurenai would come by to talk about genjutsus and spells, as well as training methods to increase her own stores of mana so that she could hold out longer with spells after her natural stores of chakra had been used. Asuma still came by at least once a week for go and shogi. They would alternate which they played each week. Naruto actually introduced Shikamaru to Asuma one weekend and nearly lost both of his game partners to each other. Naruto found a way around this by having all three play together on the weekends by means of each of them taking turns playing the other two at the same time. It was a challenge for each of them. Shikamaru was the best, only losing to Asuma a few times that he was playing both of them, and only because he got distracted by Naruto's unorthodox ways of getting around his defenses. Naruto could only beat Asuma one out of every seven games, but it was still a good experience.

By the time all of them had reached 12, Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Shikamaru were finally ready for the genin exam. Neji had taken it last year and passed as rookie of the year. Something that Sasuke would do this year, if his father had anything to say about it. Naruto knew that by keeping up his habits as the last place student, he would be able to be on Sasuke's team. He only hoped that Hinata would be placed on their team and not one of the fan girls that always seemed to follow both Sasuke and him. He started getting his own fan girls when the girls learned that the two of them were best friends. It didn't help that Naruto took up wearing a mask similar to Kakashi's his last year of the Academy. This year was going to be a year to remember, that is for sure.

End Chapter

Preview:  
The genin exam and survival test, who is going to be in which team? Find out next time.

Author Notes:

I am hope everyone likes the pace things are going. Things are going to start slowing down shortly with everyone attaining the rank of genin and starting their missions. Unless I decide to split things up a little more, there is going to be about another four to eight chapters before the end of the chunnin exam and then the pairings will be decided. So far the standings are thus.

Sakura  
Ino 1  
Tenten 0 (if no votes by next chapter, she is out of the running)  
Hinata 3  
Temari 2  
Haku (female) 3  
Multi 1 (in case of multi, it will be the top two)

BTW, I have the entirety of Ranma ½ and know each of the technique names. I am leaving them out of the story for a very good reason. Most of the techniques are named by the training method or what is done. By not naming them and having them done naturally, no spies will be able to understand what they are seeing and have nothing to go on for searching purposes. Plus, chi techniques can be altered such as how Ranma himself altered three techniques to fit the circumstances himself. Naming them would only be a hassle in my book since I would have to rename them each time Naruto would use it in a different way. I know Naruto had a tendency to name everyone of his techniques after himself if it was an original, but I believe after learning from Kyuubi and Naruto, he would have gotten over this a bit. I am sorry if this offends anyone, but this is my story and my beliefs so I am going to write the way I am comfortable. I am still open to creative suggestions for future story points since most of the work I have already done is up to the point of the return of Tsunade-hime. She will be coming back to take up the roll of Godaime Hokage, but if Sarutobi-sama is still alive, you will just have to wait and see.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

Ja ne

Dark Knight: The LightHawk


	6. Chapter 6

Starting Over  
Chapter 6  
Disclaimer: See first chapter

--Konoha Ninja Academy--

Today was the day of the genin exam. Most of the students were milling around outside the academy waiting for the doors to open so they could go inside. Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata were sitting outside under a tree having a friendly conversation.

"So what do you think is going to be on the exam this time?" asked Hinata

"Probably a simple bushin test and that is it," said Naruto while relaxing on the tree.

"What if it is more than just that?" asked Sasuke.

"I doubt that it will considering what else they have in store, but I don't want to give away too much info now do I." said Naruto with a cryptic smile. Soon the doors were opened and they were allowed inside the academy. Being the first students there, Sasuke grabbed the chair in the top most row in a corner, Naruto sat beside him and Hinata sat beside Naruto to give them both a chance to be free of the fan girls in the class.

Not two minutes later Haruno Sakura, and Yamanaka Ino came through the door at the same time, getting stuck in the process. Fighting over who got here first, since that would determine who got to sit beside Sasuke and Naruto, both girls turned to see that there was no seat next to them available since Naruto sat next to Sasuke and Hinata sat next to Naruto. Sighing, they sat down in the middle row of desks just in front of the two boys.

After a few minutes, everyone was in class and Iruka stood in front of the class calling the class to attention. "Today we are having the genin. Those of you who pass this exam, will enter the ranks of ninja of this village. Now the exams have been altered so that those who need more time at the academy, will get them. The first test will be a written examination." Iruka handed out the papers. After Iruka had said his piece, Naruto got the evil eye from both Hinata and Sasuke. Hr grinned sheepishly back at them rubbing the back of his head.

"Well I guess some things do change."

After the written exam, they were taken outside for accuracy practice Sasuke and Hinata hit target perfectly. When Naruto's turn came around, he tried to do something special. Doing a spinning jump, with all ten kunai in hand, he spun and released them. Unfortunately, a loud snap was heard and both of Naruto's wrists dislocated. Because of the dislocation and his spin, only three of the kunai even hit any target and even then just barely allowing him to pass. Naruto hid his pain behind a goofy smile before turning away embarrassed and holding his hands so that no one would see how much pain he was in. Something was wrong and knew it. Continuing with the tests, they had a henge test, a Kimiwara no Jutsu test, and a bushin test. All of the basics and Naruto just barely passing each of them. As the day grew on, Naruto found himself in more and more pain. The more he used chakra, the worse he felt. The more he did simple physical exercises, the worse he felt. By the end of the day, he had passed like everyone else, but he was in too much pain that he was having a hard time hiding it. When they got out of the academy, Sasuke and Hinata tried to find out what was wrong, but Naruto just brushed them off saying he was having a bad day. By the time he made it to his house, Naruto collapsed from pain and passed out on the front porch.

--Inside Naruto's Mind--

Naruto woke up looking at Kyuubi and Hikaru in their true forms. He knew right away where he was. "I was wondering when this was going to happen," said Hikaru looking at Naruto.

"Huh?"

"I discovered something a little unsettling last time I checked a few things. There is an imbalance. You have a lot more mana in your chakra, than you do chi. This is throwing you in an imbalance. I was afraid this might happen. You are going to have to lose your focus on the mana and go for more physical training to up your chi reserves to match your mana reserves. The imbalance is starting to cause some serious problems with your health. That and it will cause other problems in the long run if you are not careful." Hikaru went back over to his shogi game with Kyuubi.

Naruto stood up and looked over to Kyuubi and asked, "Um, Kyuubi, I know I said that mana was better than chi, and now I have gotten myself in a slight problem."

"I know kit, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Well, I was kind of hoping the offer of physical training was still available."

"Nope, you had your chance, but now it is all up to you. You only wanted to pick my brain for techniques and strategy. Now suffer the consequences."

"Thanks a lot you big fur ball."

"Talking to me like that is just going to keep me thinking this way even longer, have fun explaining things kit." With that, Kyuubi sent him back to the waking world.

--Naruto's house--

Kakashi had laid Naruto out on the couch by the time that Iruka had made it back and told Kakashi how things went at the genin exam. Both of them were worried about Naruto considering the way he had been acting the last couple of days. Slowly Naruto began to stir on the couch, Iruka was by his side in a few moments and not long after that, so was Kakashi. When he noticed where he was and the position he was in, he groaned and stood up.

"Kakashi-niichan, would you do me a favor and call in the other three please. I just got some disturbing information. Iruka-sensei, I would really like for some tea please." Naruto said while sitting up.

"What happened Naruto?" asked Iruka after bringing the tea. Kakashi had left a few moments ago to go get the others.

"I would rather wait until everyone else gets here."

"OK, I guess that will work." Iruka still fussed over Naruto before finally sitting down next to him on the couch. After a few more minutes, Kakashi showed up with Asuma, Gai and Kurenai.

"OK everyone is here, so care to tell us what is going on?"

"First off let me say that I am sorry for what I am getting ready to say. I made a major mistake in something before knowing all of the facts. There is something wrong with me and I know that Gai and Kurenai will suffer the same effects if this situation is not taken care of soon."

Gai stood up shouting, "There is nothing wrong with me, for the Flaming Power of Youth still runs through my veins keeping me in top physical condition."

Kurenai on the other hand got a dangerous glint in her eye, "What have you done that is going to affect me Naruto?"

Naruto dropped his head in his hands. He just now started to realize how big of a mistake he made. "I started teaching all of you about chi and mana before learning everything I could about it myself. Hikaru warned me that balance is everything to the universe, but I just shrugged it off as another one of his riddles. It turns out that balance is exactly what is needed. Kurenai, like you I have too much mana in my chakra, you managed to split yours to a side so it won't affect you as soon as if affected me, but I don't have that kind of control yet so it is starting to affect me now. I have no choice but to lode the mana focus and drop the level of mana to match my chi for a balanced chakra, until I get my chi stores higher. Gai is going to have the opposite problem, with his dependence on chi and not mana, he is going to suffer a similar fate, took much chi and his body is going to rip itself apart like when he holds the Celestial Gates open too long." Naruto finished his speech with his head in his hands feeling even more miserable than he could ever have imagined. They trusted him and he was helping them, but in the end since he didn't know everything like he thought he did, they were going to be put in just as bad a position as he himself was. The only problem was that they were older, had more experience and went on more dangerous missions than he would be going on. They could get hurt worse than he could for his foul up.

Kurenai was livid, here she had an upper hand on her jounin peers and all because of a stupid mistake on the part of this brat, she was about to lose it unless she wanted to work twice as hard as everyone else did. She was getting ready to get up and give that kid a piece of her mind when a hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked up to see Asuma. He nodded his head to indicate that he wanted to speak to here outside and she got up on a huff and followed him. In the meantime, Iruka was trying to consol Naruto and Kakashi took Gai off to the side to talk to him.

"Naruto, it isn't entirely your fault, you are just a kid and didn't know any better. Hikaru should have told the others when he was training them as well, so this is not totally your fault."

"But it is, if I hadn't bribed them into training me, then they wouldn't be in this mess."

"And if you didn't bribe them, then Itachi and Sasuke would be worse off and you know it. They needed to trust you and they did for what mattered. Now that you know of the problem, you can help everyone and regain their trust."

Naruto looked up to Iruka, "Do you really think they would let me?"

"That is up to them and how much you are willing to do to regain their trust. You have a good start with telling them the problems before they found out for themselves and got into a bad situation because of the problems. Now they have time to work things out."

"I hope you are right Iruka-sensei."

--Naruto's front porch--

Asuma guided an irate Kurenai to the front porch and had her sit down on one of the chairs out there looking over the garden. "Kurenai, I know that this is hard for you, but Naruto didn't know this was going to happen. He had the best of intentions for this endeavor, they just didn't turn out the way he suspected. Plus it is also partly your fault. You wanted an edge and you got one. Kakashi and I have been trying to keep things on the even side. The physical training for chi techniques is hard yes, but not impossible. Naruto is trying to help us by giving us a heads up. He didn't have to but he did anyway. I think he knows a few things that can help gain the chi training faster so that you won't have the problem he is having in the first place. All I am asking is for you to give him a chance."

Kurenai slowly lost her steam as she heard everything Asuma said to her. She couldn't honestly completely blame Naruto for this, she did have her own part in this mess. Asuma just happened to say the things that would completely make her lose her anger. She looked over to him and with a tired smile asked, "How do you do that?""Do what?" asked Asuma with a not so innocent look on his face.

"How do you know exactly what to say to get me to calm down and listen.""I know you. I can tell when things with you are about to get out of control. I also know, from watching and talking to you, how to get you to calm down and listen to reason. Naruto didn't do this on purpose. If he did, then this would be different. I believe he honestly didn't know what would happen and now that he knows, I think he is going to try and put things right again." Kurenai nodded her head, and then the two of them went back inside to talk with Naruto about what they were going to do about the situation.

-- Kitchen inside Naruto's house --

After slapping Gai a few times, Kakashi was able to get him to calm down and actually speak normally. That in itself was a shock.

"Gai, this is not the end of everything. You can still use all of your chi techniques. You are just going to have to work on building up the mana stores just so you have balance. I know that both Naruto and Kurenai can train you to do that."

"But what about my student Lee. He can't use chakra at all and I have already started to tech him the powers of the chi techniques."

"Has he been able to learn any of them?"

"The basic speed techniques for punches and kicks are almost there, he is not at full speed yet, but close."

"Naruto is going to be trained physically to build up his chi reserves. Maybe you can trade off your chi training for mana training for yourself and Lee. Lee may not be able to use chakra, but if he can use chi, he might be able to learn to use mana for spells. His true problem may be that he cannot mix the two together to form chakra like the rest of us can."

"You might be onto something there Kakashi." said Gai standing up from the kitchen table, "Yosh! I can see it now, with Naruto-kun's help, we will be able to make Lee into an even greater shinobi and give him a better outlook on life at the same time. The Flaming Passion of Youth will carry us on to greatness!" as Gai finished his speech, a backdrop of the ocean appears and Kakashi wonders if he has done the right thing or not. "Come Kakashi, we must start working with Naruto and Lee, there is not a moment to lose!" Kakashi just looked down shaking his head as he headed off to the living room to help hold off the coming storm. Maybe this would be good for Naruto after all.

-- Living Room --

After a few minutes, everyone gathered together again. After Naruto apologized again for putting them in this position, they came to a compromise. Naruto and Kurenai would use the weekends to teach Lee and Gai meditation and mana gathering ways and they in turn would be taught chi raising exercises by Gai as will as having Gai monitor their progress. The deal would hopefully help out all four party members and bring out a better class of ninjas as a result.

After taking care of the family crisis and Naruto leaving to get some dinner, Iruka, Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi left to go to the Hokage tower for the genin team assignments. It wasn't long before they got there.

-- Hokage Tower --

Sarutobi-sama the Sandaime Hokage was going over the reports of the graduating genins. He now had to put together the teams. He knew he wanted to recreate the Ino-Shika-Cho team. He also knew that Sasuke and Naruto would be placed on the same team due to their placement in the genin exam. Now he had to decide who else would be joining them to create the rest of the team. Of the remaining graduates in the class he knew that only four others would make it as genin and he already knew which ones would make it. The four genin left were Hyuuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Kiba and Shino would be put on the same team, but which girl to put where. Both girls would do well in either situation. Before he could think any further on the matter, a knock was heard at his door.

"Come in," he replied before closing the files on his desk and preparing for what was to come. After a moment, Iruka walked into the room followed by Kurenai, Asuma, and Kakashi. A few minutes after they arrived, a few other of the jounin senseis walked into the room. "Good now that everyone is here, it is time to hand out the genin assignments." The Hokage handed out different folders to each of the people there minus Iruka, Kakashi, and Kurenai. "Those are your teams, the final test will be tomorrow. The rest of you who received their teams are dismissed. Iruka, Kakashi, and Kurenai, I would like you to remain for a few minutes to help me with another matter."

Once all of the other jounins left, Iruka asked, "What do you need help with Hokage-sama?"

"I am having difficulty placing the last two females from the class, and I would like your suggestions on placement. The choices are Haruno Sakura, and Hyuuga Hinata. Which would be better to be placed on a team with Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino?"

"Well what kind of a team go you want. If you want a specialist team, Hyuuga Hinata would be the best choice. If you want someone to bridge the gap between the two, Haruno Sakura would be better," said Kurenai after looking over both girls files.

"I would have to agree with her assessment Hokage-sama," said Iruka. He has seen what both girls can do and completely agreed with what Kurenai said.

"What about you Kakashi-san, what do you believe?"

"A Balanced team is better than a specialized team. I am pretty sure you already have a specialist team with the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho."

"You know you do have a point Kakashi. I think over all it would be better for Haruno Sakura to be placed with Shino and Kiba." Kurenai turned to the Hokage and gave a nod at the end of her statement to add emphasis.

"Very well Kurenai, since that is your belief, you can have that team. Kakashi, you get the trouble team as always. Hyuuga Hinata will be paired with Uchiha Sasuke, this year's Rookie of the Year, and Uzumaki Naruto, this years last place. Have fun with this team."

Taking their assignments, Kakashi and Kurenai walked out of the office. Iruka stayed behind to talk to the Hokage. "Yes, is there something I can help you with Iruka?"

"There has been a little problem Hokage-sama."

"Oh?"

"Apparently, Naruto was not aware of the drawbacks to the additional techniques that he has been working on and teaching the selected jounin. There seems to be a problem with moderate to severe consequences."

"What do you mean Iruka."

"Naruto has been focusing more on the mana aspect of his chakra for the repertoire of spells. Unfortunately, this has created an imbalance in his chakra that has started to affect him physically. Naruto has been told that there has to be a balance between the two of them. Currently, and I am not sure how, Naruto has lost focus on his mana bringing its level down to the same rough level as his chi for a balanced chakra. It is still a high concentration, near jounin level, but now it is balanced out. I am not a medic-nin, nor do I have their abilities with the body, I am just saying what I have been told by Naruto. He has also told me that this will affect the others he has trained, although since they are older and more disciplined, they should not be getting the problems as soon."

"This is disturbing news. It would seem as if the plans I had will not come to be as I had hoped. I had hoped that by teaching others to harness chi and mana, we could gather a new breed of ninja. Having three forms of ninja would be better than one."

"You mean like how our techniques are divided into ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, have ninjas themselves broken into chakra specialist, mana specialist, and chi specialist?"

"Exactly, but if this is going to cause an imbalance, then it is best not to pursue this course of action, and merely train those who would benefit the most from the specialized training required to harness the power of both mana and chi. This is a disappointing setback, but ultimately unavoidable. Is there anything else you needed?"

"No Hokage-sama, I just thought you should be aware of the situation."

"Very well, you are dismissed. Good luck tomorrow at the academy."

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

-- Ninja Academy the next day --

Everyone was in a rush to get to the academy for the last day and the placing of the teams. The first to get there were Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Choji. They arrived and sat in class making a semi-barrier for Naruto and Sasuke. The fact that Naruto bribed the two of them with a new pewter shogi set and a free all you can eat meal at the nearest barbecue restaurant had everything to do with it. Once the fan-girls got there and saw the missed out on getting near the two of them, they all cried about the unfairness of it all. Not that much longer, Iruka came in and called everyone to attention. "Good morning everyone. I am about to call out the team assignments made by the Hokage. Once your team as been assigned, you are no longer academy students but real genin of the Leaf. This rooms teams are seven through twelve. First team, team seven, Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke perked up waiting to hear his teammates and praying that at least Naruto would be on his team, "Uzumaki Naruto," the rest of the class females in class held their breath in anticipation. Both of the hottest guys in class were on the same team and they wanted to be on that team, "and Hyuuga Hinata."

"YES!" screamed both Naruto and Sasuke as they high-fived each other and high-fived Hinata who held a big blush on her face. Hinata had always had a crush on Naruto, now she was going to be on his team until they reach chunnin or maybe even jounin.

"NO!" screamed the rest of the female population of the class. It was bad enough that the Hyuuga girl already spent time outside of the academy with the two of them, but now that she was in their team, there was nothing stopping the girl from having both guys to herself.

"Team eight, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. Team nine. . ."

"Alright, I can't believe we all got on the same team, isn't that great Hinata-chan?"

Hinata was too shocked to say anything. _Did he just call me Hinata-CHAN! I must be dreaming, not only am I going to able to stay with Naruto, but he also called me Hinata-CHAN._ Hinata felt feint and started to fall. She fell right into Naruto's arms who caught her before she could hit the floor. As she looked into the crystal blue eyes of the person who caught her, she lost all coherent thought and passed out. Naruto looked over to Sasuke as if to ask for help. Sasuke looked over to Naruto and with a small hidden smirk just shrugged his shoulders.

Sasuke knew how Hinata felt about Naruto, but he wasn't going to be the one to tell him. He was going to make Hinata do that himself. The two of them had come a long way since being in Naruto's company. Sasuke had started coming out of his shell when it was just the three of them, and Hinata had started to gain a lot more confidence in herself. One couldn't help gaining confidence around Naruto. The only time Sasuke would be a cold person is around strangers and those he didn't trust completely. Unfortunately that is a lot of people. Hinata on the other hand, the only times she actually stutters is when she is around Naruto and he starts doing things that most people would call boarder-line intimate. The most he ever did was hug, and grab hands, but even that was enough to send Hinata over the line and back to her stuttering self.

"Team ten, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Haruno Sakura." Iruka continued on for a little while finishing the team roster and then talking about the life they would now be leading when a knock was heard on the door. The door opened and out stepped both Asuma and Kurenai. They walked up next to Iruka before Kurenai turned to the class and said, "My name is Yuuhi Kurenai, I am here to pick up team eight."

"My name is Sarutobi Asuma, I am here to pick up team ten."

Both teams left with their senseis and soon other jounins started arriving to pick up the other three teams, soon the only one left was team seven and it was lunch time, they were told their instructor would pick them up after lunch. Deciding to celebrate the group staying together, the three of them went to Ichiraku's for lunch. Hinata and Sasuke had one bowl, to Naruto's eight. They talked while they eat and had a pleasant time together. Soon they headed back to class the wait for their sensei. After another hour of waiting, Sasuke and Naruto suddenly turned to each other and said at the same time, "Ah, crap."

"What?" asked Hinata in a slightly fearful tone.

"We just figured out who our jounin sensei is. If we are right, he will pop his head through the door in about another ten minutes," said Naruto while putting his head on the desk. Sasuke started looking at the clock on the wall and started to do a countdown. Hinata didn't know what to think. Sasuke started to do a ten second countdown and right as he finished saying one, the door opened and in walked Kakashi.

"I knew it," said Naruto not even bothering to raise his head.

Kakashi looked at the group and said, "Let's meet on the roof, shall we?" After saying that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The three members of team seven slowly walked up the stairs to meet him on the roof. Once they got to the roof, they took a seat on the bench across from where Kakashi was standing. Once there they waited for Kakashi to start. "Good , now that we are all here, why don't we introduce ourselves to each other. You know names, likes, dislike, dreams, that sort of thing."

"We already know each other, but if you want us to do this then why don't you start off Kakashi-niichan," said Naruto while giving him a small evil eye.

"Right. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes you don't need to know, my dislikes, I have a lot of them. As for dreams, humm," he stared into space getting a slight blush to his cheeks.

"So in other words, you like Ero-sennin's books, and your dream has something to do with carrying out one of the scenes in them, is that right?"

"OK, you with the blue hair," said Kakashi completely ignoring Naruto.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata, I like making medicines and . . ." she trailed off looking over to Naruto with a slight blush, which Naruto was oblivious to since he was staring at Kakashi thinking of ways to pay him back for ignoring him, "I dislike mean people, and I have a dream to change the Hyuuga House and . . ." she trailed off again looking at Naruto and getting an even deeper blush.

"OK, now you mister stoic." Kakashi said while looking at Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I like training with Naruto, I hate a lot of things, and I dream of restoring my clan and killing the man responsible. But the restoration of my clan comes first." It was nice to see that being with Naruto helped cool off his quest for vengeance.

"And now for mister loud mouth," Kakashi said to Naruto.

"Yosh! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like Ramen and training with both Sasuke and Hinata-chan, I dislike people who never see past the cover, and the three minutes it takes for the ramen to cook. It is my dream to become the greatest shinobi in the history of Konoha, becoming the Hokage and surpassing all of the previous Hokages.

"Very good, now, meet me at training area seven tomorrow morning at eight for our first mission."

"What kind of mission sensei?" asked Naruto already knowing it was going to be the real final test for being a genin.

"Well this is a survival test."

Hinata looked confused for a few minutes and then said, "Kakashi-sensei, didn't we already go through enough survival tests in the academy?"

"Well, this is where you guys are going to flip. This is the actual genin exam. The test yesterday was to see if you had the potential to become real genin. Only nine of the people who graduated will actually become genin. In other words this test has a 66.6 fail rate. Oh and don't eat anything for breakfast, you'll just throw it up before it is over." After saying his piece, he left in a puff of smoke again.

"Well, that was unexpected," said Naruto looking to his teammates. "Listen, I don't care what Kakashi-sensei says, if the test is going to be that hard, I say we eat breakfast anyway so we will be at top strength for the test."

"That would make more sense," said Sasuke as he got up. "I also think we should lay off our normal afternoon practice and get a lot of rest of tomorrow. See you two tomorrow."

"Bye Sasuke."

"Bye Sasuke-san."

When Sasuke had gotten out of ear shot, Naruto looked to Hinata and said, "I hope everything will turn out well for us tomorrow. Good luck and I will see you later Hinata-chan." Naruto left by jumping off the roof and roof hopped all the way back to his house. When he got back inside he went to the kitchen to find Kakashi and Iruka already in the kitchen ready for dinner.

"Kakashi, I have one thing to say to you before tomorrow, I know that you are late for everything because you lose track of time at the memorial, but if you are late for tomorrow's test, I will get Iruka to help me burn every single one of your perverted books. Do you hear me?" Naruto asked while directing a death glare at the lazy jounin.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you Naruto, but understand this, when it comes to the team after tomorrow, you will have to deal with the fact that I will come when I want to come, Understood?"

"Hai Onii-chan."

After they finished their dinner, Naruto went straight to bed. He slept through the night and woke up at the first light of dawn. After getting up, Naruto took a quick shower and then dressed in his usual suit of black pants with an orange strip on each side of the legs, a black t-shirt with a red spiral, navy blue jacket with orange patches on the pockets, elbows, and shoulders and a big red spiral on the back of the jacket. After he got dressed, he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a bag a fruit, before making his way to the training area.

Arriving at the training area, he found Sasuke already there waiting for him. "Morning Sasuke, care for some fruit?" he asked as he came to a stop under the same tree Sasuke was resting against.

"Sure."

A few moments later Hinata came into sight and slowly came over to them. "Good morning Hinata-chan, would you like some fresh fruit?"

"Good morning Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, I would like an apple if you have one." Hinata said taking a seat next to them, but not near the tree the two boys wee leaning against. Naruto handed her an apple and she took it taking a bite out of it. The three of them eat and chatted in the quite training area until seven thirty. Then they moved to the center of the clearing while waiting for Kakashi to show up. Thirty minutes later he showed up right on time. Looking over the three of them he motioned them over to the three training logs on the side of the clearing. "This alarm clock is set for noon, you have until that time to get these bells from me. Those who don't get a bell, don't get lunch, in fact, you will tied to a post and watch as I eat your lunch in front of you."

"But sensei, there are only two bells," said Hinata with a confused look on her face.

"That means that someone will definitely be tied to the post and not get lunch. And also, those who don't get a bell will be sent back to the academy. If you want to succeed, then you will have to come at me with the full intent to kill me. Ready, Go."

The minute he said go, all three went in different directions. Three minutes later, all three of them meet up together. "Looks like this is a test of teamwork. So how are we going to get the bells?" asked Sasuke.

"Well, how about this," said Hinata before outlining a plan to get the bells from Kakashi. After a few minutes they had a full game plan.

Kakashi was standing in the middle of the training grounds waiting to see what they came up with, and he didn't have to wait all that long. While reading his book, he felt someone coming at him, he looked up to see Sasuke coming at him ready to attack with taijutsu, right as he was about to get into range, Sasuke dropped to the ground rolling under Hinata who flew over him in a combined attack that Kakashi didn't see coming since he was reading his book. Kakashi was not a jounin for nothing, so he easily dodged each and every strike that Hinata threw at him, and then Sasuke came in the other side, suddenly he knew that they were driving him towards one side of the training field, so he jumped over both of the and landed on the other side of them. He looked up and she Sasuke smirk and Hinata giggle. Cocking his head to the side, he started to take a step forward, when he found he couldn't move. Looking all around him, he found a kunai in the ground in his shadow. Suddenly a blur came by and before he could react from all of the shocks of this team, he found that he didn't have the bells.

"Kageshibari Shuriken no Jutsu Kakashi-sensei. I thought you remember teaching me that skill since it was similar to Shadow Snap without having the light problem."

"Yes, I did, and now I think it is time to decide who goes back to the Academy. Since you have both bells, Naruto, you get to choose."

"Fine then," Naruto turned to the other two and gave them a wink before tossing both bells at them, "I go back. I know I can make it next time, so why not let them pass. They had the hard part of distracting and attacking you, they deserve it more than I do."

"But you came up with the plan Naruto, I want you to have my bell and I will go back," said Hinata throwing the bell back to Naruto.

"Oh no, if you are going back then so am I Naruto. There is no one else I would rather be teamed with. Here are your bells Kakashi, I think the three of us are going to go back to the academy, since this team is being split up." Sasuke threw his bell back at Kakashi.

"OK, OK, you all pass. I guess that I just made the test too easy for the three of you. Congratulation, you are the first team to realize that this is all about teamwork. Just like my sensei said, those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those who have no feelings for their teammates are lower than trash. Have a good day and meet me tomorrow at the bridge near the Hokage Monument tomorrow at nine for our first mission as Team Seven."

The three fiends congratulated each other and then went out to celebrate. This was the beginning of something special, and they all knew it.

End Chapter:

Author Notes:

I hope that some of you are happy now that it turns out that Naruto is not as all powerful as it seemed. I will tell you this much. This chapter was already mostly written, just needing minor correction, for about a month. I actually have all the way threw the end of the chunnin exam already written. I just have to make a few minor tweaks with each chapter after splitting them up before posting them. That is why it is coming out so fast in the first place. After the Chunnin exam though it is going to slow down a bit, unless I take time writing new chapters before posting what I have been tweaking.

Vote Standings

Sakura 5  
Ino 2  
Tenten 7  
Hinata 8  
Temari 6  
Haku 10  
Multi 9

So far it is looking like it will be a Naruto/Haku pairing with a strong possibility that Hinata coming into the picture and making her dreams come true as well.

Till next time. . .

Ja ne

Dark Knight: The LightHawk


	7. Chapter 7

Starting Over  
Chapter 7  
Disclaimer: This is for fun.

--Konoha two months after the genin exam--

Team seven has come a long way from the genin tests. They would finish one or two d-rank missions in the morning and train in the afternoon. They were the fastest working genin team. Their record of missions was well above what it should be. The training they did in the afternoons afforded them the chance to grow even stronger. Currently the group is headed for the Administration building to get their next mission. Once they got to the missions office, they saw the Hokage there behind his desk ready to start handing out missions.

"Hello Team seven, ready for your mission today?"

"Hai Hokage-sama." replied Sasuke.

"Very well, here is your next mission, a d-class mission to help gather a harvest in the northern fields."

"But Hokage-sama, we have already completed over thirty d-class missions, can't you at least give us a c-class mission?" asked Naruto while giving his best pleading look.

"Please Hokage-sama, I would like to try a harder type of mission." asked Hinata walking up beside Naruto.

"Kakashi, what do you think? You have been training them."

"Hokage-sama, I think that they would be able to handle a simple c-class mission."

"Very well, here is a c-class mission."

"What kind of mission is it Hokage-sama?" asked Sasuke stepping up to stand on the other side of Naruto. His time with Naruto and being on his team has helped improve his attitude even more.

"This will be a simple escort mission. Kakashi stay behind for the details, the rest of you go ahead and prepare for about a month away."

"Hai Hokage-sama." the trio chorused and just before Naruto left, he said, "Go ahead, I will catch up at the bridge before we leave. I have a few things I need to do."

"OK Naruto, we will meet you there." said Hinata before she and Sasuke took off.

Naruto turned back around and went back into the Administration building and back to the Hokage. Kakashi had just finished getting the full mission briefing when Naruto came back in. "Naruto, you should be packing, is there something I can help you with?" asked the Hokage seeing him back in the room.

After making sure no one else was in the room, Naruto turned to the Hokage and said, "I would like permission to teach both Hinata and Sasuke the basics of both chi and mana manipulation as well as the basic spells and basic chi techniques. They are going to need these skills eventually. Both of them are capable, and with us being out of the village, no one else can stumble onto the training and learn the secrets."

"What do you think Kakashi?" asked the Hokage looking to the jounin.

"Well in all honesty, I believe that Naruto is capable of training the two of them, and I will be supervising them to make sure they don't have the same problem that Naruto had, besides, the chi training will help build up his reserves so that he can do more magic later on." replied Kakashi while thinking about how to keep Tazuna the bridge builder away from the kids as they practiced the techniques.

"Then I guess it would be alright for you to teach them. But if you are going to teach them, then you also might want to think about telling them where this information comes from." said the Hokage looking at Naruto.

"I understand, I may not be able to tell them until after the mission is finished and on our way back though."

"As long as they know at some point in time. I know that you want to keep the secret form the rest of them, but if you can't trust your teammates with this secret, then you might not want to teach them anything at all."

"Understood Hokage-sama." After saying his piece, Naruto left to pack.

"Watch them closely Kakashi, if you think that they won't be able to handle the truth, stop Naruto before he tells them. I don't want him to lose the friends he does have."

"Of course Hokage-sama." Kakashi left in his usual manner of teleporting.

-- Bridge near the East Gate of Konoha --

Sasuke and Hinata were waiting for Naruto. Both of them had bags packed with most of the ninja equipment and six additional pairs of clothing. They began talking about the different training methods they had done over the two months they had been with Kakashi. After about ten minutes of waiting, Naruto finally showed up with two back packs and a duffle bag.

"Hey guys, sorry I am late. I had to pack some extra things for the trip."

"That's cool. So what do you have in the bags?" asked Sasuke.

"That is for me to know and you to fins out later." Naruto laughed and then the three of them moved to the gates to wait for the person they are supposed to escort. They started talking amongst themselves for a time. Not long after getting there, an older man smelling of sake walked up. The man had a towel around his neck, and a big bottle of sake in his left hand.

"Are you the brats that are supposed to be guarding me?" asked the man in question.

"That depends on who you are," replied Naruto, he already knew who the man was, but it would be better for the others to find out for themselves.

"I'm the Super Bridge Builder Tazuna. And you are super short," Tazuna replied looking at Naruto. Naruto growled and was about to attack, but Hinata put a hand on his shoulder hoping to calm him down. It had the desired affect, but he still shot off his mouth anyway.

"Yeah, well you look like a super drunk, instead of a super bridge builder. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, and you better remember it."

"How can a super shorty like you even think you can be something as super as this Hokage you are talking about?"

Naruto moved before Hinata could catch him. He was about to strangle Tazuna, but Kakashi caught him by the back of the jacket. "Naruto, if you kill him, we will fail this mission and have to do at least twenty more d-class mission to get another c-class mission." He set Naruto down and turned to Tazuna. "I wouldn't underestimate this team. These three are a very good team, and they even have the rookie of the year in this team. I myself am a jounin if things get too much for them to handle."

"Well then lets be on our way, we have a super long journey ahead of us."

The group set out for their journey, along the way they talked about the state Wave country was in. The poor economics which denied them the ability to have their own hidden village and the fact that they had bandits problems. After walking for several hours, Naruto decided it was time to tell the others about his offer.

"Hey guys, how would you like to be trained in some very hard techniques that only myself and four other jounins know, and only three others know about?""What do you mean Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata.

"Well, I found a couple of scroll detailing two vary rare forms of techniques that are very difficult to master. I need some help with them and got the help of four jounins to help learn the skills with me. I figure that since these skills are so rare, no one will know about them and it will give our team a very big edge in the future."

"OK, so when do we start the training for them?" asked Sasuke.

"We can begin the training during while we at wave, but I can show you the basics while we rest on our way there." At this time Naruto finally spotted the puddles he was looking for. "In fact, how about I show you one the techniques right now?" Naruto glanced at Kakashi looking for the OK and got it. Aiming his hand at the puddles, he called out, "Digger Bolt!" A bolt of blue lightning flew from his hand and hit the puddles. The puddles exploded revealing two very twitchy nins. Sasuke and Naruto got into an offensive stance while Hinata took a defensive position near Tazuna.

"Well what do we have here? If I didn't know any better I would say a couple of nins, but with idiots like you, that can't be right. Who would hide in puddles when it hasn't rained in several days?"

Hinata started giggling at Naruto's behavior. He really liked to piss off his opponents before tearing into them for some reason. Naruto signaled Sasuke to cut the chains coming out of the brother's gauntlets. After those had been cut, Sasuke jumped back to allow Naruto the room he needed. Naruto jumped and use two kunai to pin the chains to the ground and then started his taunts all over again. Slowly he had both of the Demon Brothers so mad, they started attacking blindly. While Naruto lead the two brothers into the spiral, Kakashi had the others pull Tazuna back to a safe distance. Once the spiral was completed, Naruto threw a sloppy punch dodged by the two brothers.

'What was that, I know he can actually hit them if he tried' thought Sasuke, then the technique took effect. As the Demon Brothers jumped to avoid the punch, they were sucked up into the tornado that formed around them. Slowly their armor and chakra was ripped away by the tornado and they fell to the ground completely unconscious.

"And that, lady and gentlemen, is as they say that." Naruto grinned at the shocked faces of Tazuna and his two teammates. "So Sasuke, Hinata-chan, would you like to learn techniques like that?" asked Naruto with his trademark foxy grin.

"How did you do that?" asked Sasuke.

"That is but one of the chi techniques, and the Digger Bolt is a spell that uses mana. I can teach you both if you wish."

"Do you really think that we can do those things Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata still with awe on her face.

"Easily, if you want to go through the training for them."

"Maa, maa, that's enough, we need to get going. And Tazuna-san, there is going to be a fee increase since this mission just turned b-class. I know that this team can handle it, but you will still pay the right price."

Tazuna stood in awe and just numbly nodded his head. He couldn't believe that these people were this strong. They decided to go ahead and move out. As they got near the shore-line a mist started coming in. The mist got thinker and thinker until finally Naruto sensed him.

"Everyone down!" Kakashi and Naruto jumped, while Hinata and Sasuke hit the ground, Sasuke carrying Tazuna with him. A giant blade passed right through where their bodies had been a moment ago. When Naruto and Kakashi landed, Sasuke and Hinata got up pulling Tazuna with them, the three genin moved themselves into a triangle formation around Tazuna making him safer in the middle. They would hold off whoever this person is.

"Well if it isn't the infamous Copy Nin Kakashi. Master Technician of the Hidden Leaf Village. Copied more than a thousand techniques. It will be my pleasure ending your carrier as a shinobi today."

"Momochi Zabuza, Devil of the Mist and nuke-nin. I guess I am not going to have to hold back on you am I?" While saying this, Kakashi raised is forehead protecter revealing the Sharingan.

"Ah, the Sharingan so soon, I am honored. I guess I will leave you for last. Kirigakure no Jutsu." After performing the handseals, an even thicker mist rolled in. Zabuza's voice could be heard through the mist. "Heart, lungs, kidneys, spine, jugular vein, . ."

As Zabuza listed off the lethal points for a quick strike, Kakashi moved over to his team and gave a brief burst of chakra to dispel part of the mist. "Don't worry, I will not let anyone under me die."

"Nice sentiment Kakashi, but who can you stop what you can't see?" asked Zabuza as he attacked from the middle of the group. Kakashi stopped the blow and dealt one of his own which turned Zabuza into a puddle of water.

"Mizu bushin." said Kakashi. The mist cleared a little and Kakashi saw Zabuza. They squared off before starting to fight each other. The battle turned into a game of cat and mouse with Mizu bushins killing Mizu bushins. After two minutes, there was nothing but the originals. The two of them went into a taijutsu fight. Soon, Kakashi was knocked into the water and then when he surfaced, Kakashi was caught.

"Suirou no Jutsu (Water Prison)," said Zabuza. Kakashi was captured inside a sphere of water that blocked his chakra. Naruto and the others were shocked. Suddenly, another Mizu bushin rose out of the water.

"Run, take Tazuna and run, Zabuza is too much for the three of you right now." screamed Kakashi.

"Sensei, that option was taken away the moment that you were captured. You said it yourself, a ninja who abandons his mission is trash, but those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash. We will beat this shinobi or we will all die trying. Sasuke, Hinata, formation delta, understood?"

"Right." said Sasuke taking his position beside Tazuna.

"Right." said Hinata taking a rear position behind Tazuna and Sasuke. "Byakugan!" activating her bloodline. Hinata thought she saw something in the edges of her field of sight, but when she focused on that area for a minute, she found nothing there. Refocusing her attention to the area of the fight she saw Naruto facing off against Zabuza.

"Kakashi, I am going to have to use it." Naruto said as he got into a stance. Kakashi nodded and closed his eye canceling his Sharingan. Standing straight with his knees slightly bent and his arms in front of him, with his hands cupping the air, and then he spoke, "You who crosses the sky and earth, gently flowing water, gather in my hand and give me power. Demona Crystal!" As Naruto spoke, water in the area slowly condensed into his hands. As he finished the spell, he thrust his hands forward. The spell flew forward creating a line of ice crystals before striking the water prison. The water prison and the entire lake froze over. Zabuza jumped to avoid the area of effect, but both of his feet froze over in the ice even though he cleared the area. He landed hard and fell to his knees using his sword as balance.

"Sasuke, I'm sure Kakashi-sensei would love a little warming up, if you get my meaning." said Naruto as he started scanning for anyone else. Sasuke ran to the edge of the lake while doing his handseals. Once he got to the edge of the lake he took a deep breath and put his hands to his mouth for his technique.

"Katon Gouykakyuu no Jutsu (Grand Fireball Technique)!" as Sasuke breathed out, a giant fireball flew over the lake melting parts of it, he had aimed to the right of the sphere that was Kakashi's prison and soon the ice was thin enough for Kakashi to break free. After breaking free, Kakashi stretched a little before nodding to the two teammates.

"Good job you two, nice teamwork. Now I believe it is time for us to finish this, what do you say?" Kakashi said looking over to Zabuza who just finished breaking the ice off his own feet.

The two squared off as Kakashi once again revealed his Sharingan. Slowly they moved around and started making identical handseals. They both called out the same technique.

"Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Dragon Blast Technique)!"

The two blasts meet with extreme force canceling each other out. Both started making handseals again, at even faster speeds, again the same effect with both techniques canceling each other out.

'Is he . . .'

"Reading my mind?"

'How can he . . .'

"Be doing this?"

'This has to . . .'

"Be some kind of trick."

'It's like he . . .'

"Can read the future."

Zabuza stopped while Kakashi finished the hand seals for the technique and completed the technique. "Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu (Great Waterfall Technique)!" The water swirled into the column that slammed Zabuza back into the shore and into the trees. When Zabuza hit one of the trees several of his ribs cracked. He couldn't stand, much less fight. Sasuke grabbed Tazuna before the water came and pulled him into the trees where they would be safe. Hinata found the person who she saw earlier in the woods, and saw under the mask. She jumped into a position between the person and where Zabuza landed. After Kakashi came up to Zabuza, a senbon pierced his neck and he was dead to everyone except Hinata. The person in question moved out to talk to Kakashi.

Hinata still having her Byakugan activated, she noticed that there was still a small flow of chakra going through the body. The little medical training she had told her that he wasn't dead. She moved closer to the body and prepared herself for something that could turn disastrous if she didn't do things right. She would never have had the confidence to even try this if Naruto and Sasuke had not been helping her all of the time with it. Now she was going to show them that she was not weak and could help out. 'I must do this, for myself as well as for Naruto-kun' she thought before setting up for the attack. When the hunter-nin came up to the body, she quickly attacked the tenketsus (chakra points) in the hunter-nins arms, unfortunately, she was only able to get a few before the hunter-nin jumped to a safe distance.

"She is not what she appears to be." Hinata said while moving into a Juken Stance. Naruto and Sasuke moved into position as well. Naruto knew what was supposed to happen, but Hinata's Byakugan had seen through it. Now he was not sure if things were going to turn out the same or not. He didn't like the idea of fighting Haku since Kakashi would be dropping like a rock from chakra depletion shortly. This had to end and end fast. Nodding to Sasuke, Naruto took out a kunai and and threw it at Haku while Sasuke took out a kunai for the technique Naruto had taught the two of them last week.

"Kageshibari Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Binding Shuriken Technique)!" The kunai flew true and stuck to the shadow left by Haku. Frozen and not being able to move Naruto nodded to Hinata, who moved in and quickly disabled both of Haku's arms and legs. After Haku was disabled, they removed the kunai. He moved his headband back down and walked over to them. Right as he got to them, he stumbled and then fell. Naruto caught him as he fell, and eased him down.

"Hinata, I think Kakashi-sensei is going to be alright with a little rest. Do us a favor and go ahead and disable Zabuza while he is unconscious and remove the senbon, I think we need to have a little talk." Hinata did as she was asked as Tazuna tried to come down from the tree. He ended up falling and landing on his super posterior. After tying up both Zabuza and Haku, they removed the senbon from Zabuza's neck. After a minute, he tried to move to find himself tied up with Haku right next to him.

"Ah good you are awake. I would like to talk to you for a few minutes if you don't mind. My name is Uzumaki Naruto and these are my teammates, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Hinata. We are ninja doing our job, just as you used to be a ninja doing yours. We have managed to succeed with our job and a little bit more. Being a nuke-nin means that failing is the same as death. Would you be interested in living for a different reason?" said Naruto as he began to try and reason with Zabuza.

"Like a child like you would no anything."Zabuza replied while closing his eyes waiting for a chance to act.

"I know a lot more than you think. I have a nasty ability to read people. Take you for example. You are a man with no qualms about killing, yet you use a girl to kill for you." Zabuza's eyes snapped open, he looked over to Haku whose mask had been taken off.

"Haku is a boy, not a girl, you must be stupid not to tell the difference."

"Normally I would agree, but Hinata-chan told me that, what was her name, Haku, is in fact a girl. I trust her since her vision allows her to see certain things. Like around buildings and under disguises." Zabuza looked intensely at Naruto. "I am sure you gathered her up when she was younger, and to help protect her, you made her into a feminine boy. But you can't fool the Byakugan. You raised her as your tool, yet you think of her as a sister. I know how it is. We can help you no matter what the circumstances of your removal from the Hidden Mist Village. The both of you will have a place and you won't have to subject her to being on the road with the unsavory people you are working for now. I have a feeling, given what I have heard of the man you are working for, that Gatou is going to kill you rather than pay you anything. Come with us and help us and we can help the both of you in return. If it turns out that Konoha won't take you, I will personally guarantee your safe passage out of the village. Is that enough to give us a chance?" Naruto was hoping he could get through to Zabuza, without him, Haku wouldn't even think about taking the offer.

"You don't speak like a child. You have the balls to say you can protect us from an entire village of ninjas if things don't work out." Zabuza opened his eyes again looking at Naruto and the other three intently.

"I always keep my word. You help us, we will help you. Your only other choice is death. Hinata has disabled both of your arms and legs, the same with Haku. It would be easy to leave you or have Kakashi-sensei kill you when he wakes. Hinata can keep you disabled until he can do it. I would rather we work together. What do you say?" asked Naruto holding out his hand in a gesture of good faith.

"We will see what happens when your sensei awakes, until then, how are you going to move us and him." Zabuza said with a quizzical look in his eye.

"That's easy. Kage Bushin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" Six Naruto's popped out of the air. Two carried Kakashi, two carried Haku, and two carried Zabuza. The party made their way to the rendezvous point with the boat that took them the rest of the way. On the boat trip, Haku and Hinata made small quite conversation about Konoha, while Sasuke talked quietly to Naruto.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Naruto? What if they are waiting to stab us in the back?"

"You have to have a little faith in things Sasuke. I know it is hard for you since what happened to your family, but it is needed for certain things. I have faith that Kakashi and the Hokage will see the potential allies we could have in them."

"I hope you are right. I trust you, but I don't rust them. If anything happens, I am going to stop them with or without your help."

"I am glad you trust me Sasuke. I will help you with something powerful for you before we start training in the new techniques I have for you."

The rest of the trip was quite for all of them. Once they got to Tazuna's house. They knew they couldn't all stay there. There was simple not enough room. Kakashi, and Zabuza stayed with Tazuna, while Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Haku got a hotel room for the month. Hinata paid for the hotel and kept the receipt for the Administration since they would pay back any incurred expenses that ninja had during long term missions.

Tomorrow was going to be the start of something new for everyone. Naruto hoped that things would turn out better this time around.

End Chapter.

Author Notes:

Sorry for wait. Real life work has been taking me away from writing lately, and I had to find where I wanted to break the Wave mission as well as rewrite the fight scene. I didn't like the way it turned out in the original draft so I scrapped it and you get this one. In the next chapter I will have more of the training and the last bit of the wave country mission.

Thank you everyone who is reviewing with the ideas and personal e-mails. I know that later on I might lose some readers due to the way the later chapters are already starting to turn out. I write ahead when I have the inspiration. I currently have two rough drafts of the first two chapters after the Chunnin Exams. I write so far ahead to give me the chance to review and rewrite the early chapters so that things will flow more smoothly in the later chapters. I hope that things at work will calm down and be able to edit and post the other chapters soon.

BTW I am going to close the voting for the pairings after the next chapter considering I have a good idea what is going to happen. People are either going to flame me or praise me, but this is how I see things working out since I have already started doing the ground work. You have until the next chapter to vote to change my mind.

Vote Standings

Sakura 7  
Ino 2 (Out of the running)  
Tenten 9  
Hinata 22  
Temari 21  
Haku 14  
Multi 22

Again as a reminder, if Multi wins, it is the top two girls, three if the story writes itself that way. Well I have business to attend to so I hope you enjoyed and I will see you next time.

Ja ne

Dark Knight: The LightHawk


	8. Chapter 8

Starting Over  
Chapter 8  
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my ideas

-- Wave Country, the next day --

As a precautionary measure, the told Haku that they would be tying her up again for the meeting with Kakashi. When they tied her back up, they made sure to tie both wrist together and each figure together to prevent seals. They went back to Tazuna's house and there did the same thing to Zabuza. A few hours later, Kakashi woke up to see he was in a bed in some worn down room. After opening his eye he saw his team plus Zabuza and Haku tied up. Not sure what was going on, he looked over to Naruto, who had a nervous expression on his face.

"Maa, what is going on Naruto?" Kakashi asked trying to move into a sitting position.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei, I made a deal with Zabuza, and now we need your OK to go through with the deal." replied Naruto hoping against hope that Kakashi still trusted him after this.

"What kind of deal?"

"Kakashi, Zabuza was hired by Gatou, you know that much. I can assume that that you can figure out the kind of man Gatou is. He would kill the two of them before paying them. They are tired of life on the run. I have asked if they would be willing to help us, if the can be part of the Hidden Leaf Village."

"Hmmm, I don't know. Are you sure about this Naruto?"

"I have given my word and they have given theirs. We have kept them tied up until you say one way or the other. I believe them. That is what my gut is telling me."

"Hai, hai, I guess then we will see what Momochi Zabuza's word is worth then."

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei." said Naruto as he started removing Haku's bindings. "Haku, Kakashi is suffering from chakra depletion. Can you help both of them to get back to peak health?"

"It would be right and show that we will up hold our end of the deal." Haku said as she started going over both Kakashi's and Zabuza's injuries and making a list of things she will need.

"Naruto, while I am out, it is going to be up to you to train both Sasuke and Hinata. Start with the simple exercises and then work to the advanced." said Kakashi after Haku had finished her inspection.

"Hai sensei, I will also send a bushin to watch Tazuna today since that is still our mission. Come on guys, we have a long way to go." Naruto left with Sasuke and Hinata following him. After breakfast, Naruto sent a Kage Bushin with Tazuna to the bridge and the three teammates were ready for their training. Getting the duffle bag and his back pack, they made their way deep into the woods. Once there, Naruto pulled out two kunai and threw them at both Sasuke and Hinata.

"We are going to do an intermediate chakra control exercise to prepare for the two stage training for the special techniques. The two of you can do this one of two ways. What we are going to be doing is tree climbing, but not with your hand, we are going to do it like this." Naruto made a quick ram seal and then started to slowly walk up the tree without his hands and was walking perpendicular to the ground. Hinata and Sasuke were stunned. When Naruto had gotten to the top, he ran down the tree like he was running along the ground. "This exercise is about controlling the chakra on your feet. You need to have a fixed amount of chakra on your feet to do this exercise. Too much and the tree breaks, too little and you don't stick. You can choose to walk up like I did, or run up. Running up will get you to the top faster, but walking up will help you gather the control element faster. The choose is yours, when you have finished this exercise, then I will go over what the new techniques I have are."

Sasuke and Hinata both took their kunai and got a running start, Sasuke made it seven feet off the ground before he put too much chakra in and cracked the tree, Hinata made it almost to the very top before she lost control and fell down, the height was enough that she could have hurt herself, but she also used the kunai on the tree to slow her fall and right herself.

"Not bad for a first run try. Keep it up." Naruto said in encouragement, Sasuke looked at what Hinata did and cursed himself for not being as good. Even though he knew Hinata was a friend, he still had his own ambition to get back at the snake. He needed to do this and get it right if he was going to progress any further. Sasuke squared off and tried again, this time he didn't get quite as high and he was starting to get frustrated.

Hinata on the other hand, decided that she would try walking up this time. She slowly walked up to the tree and then put her foot on the tree. She found the balance of chakra she needed and then she started walking up on her own, slowly she made her way all the way to the top. When she got to the top she was very exhausted. She ran the rest of the way back down the tree just like Naruto did. When she made it back down, she fell into a heap and was panting heavily.

Sasuke watched after he fell of his second time completely stunned that Hinata had just done the exact same thing Naruto had done, and the exact same way. When he saw her fall down into a heap, he went over to her and helped her sit up.

"How did you do that?" he asked taking something out of his pocket.

"Well, I don't have as much chakra as you and Naruto do so it is easier to control. Also , it is easier to find the right amount and keep it if you walk up the tree and concentrate. Try it out for yourself, and see if you don't do better." she said. Sasuke handed her the small pill he took out of his pocket.

"This is a soldier pill, it will help replenish the chakra you lost. Take it and then we can do this together, how does that sound?" Hinata took the pill and swallowed it. After a few seconds, she felt her chakra being replenished back to full and a little bit more. Together they got up and went to a tree. Both form the ram seal and started gathering chakra to their feet. Both of them started walking up the tree together slowly, Sasuke was still having a difficult time but the slower pace allowed him to focus more. He lost his focus when he was about three quarters of the way up and dropped, Hinata dropped with him to help keep his focus and concentration. After all of the confidence boosting both Naruto and Sasuke had done for her, it was high time she turned around and started helping them where she could.

Sasuke and Hinata made even faster progress than Naruto expected, and had finished the climbing exercise right before lunch. They took a lunch break to visit with Kakashi so that Naruto could tell him how things were progressing. After lunch the three came back to the clearing and Naruto set up a fire. After the fire was going good, he asked them to join him around the fire.

"What I am getting ready to do MUST stay between us. I am not sure how the two of you are going to react to this, but I don't have a choice. Hokage-sama said I could teach you the special techniques, if you were told of how the techniques where learned in the first place. First, we need to start with a history lesson. What do you remember about the tragedy 12 years ago?" asked Naruto as he started to stare into the fire.

"The only tragedy I know about was the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacking the village. The Yondaime Hokage gave his life to kill the Kyuubi." replied Hinata. She was beginning to not like where this was going.

Naruto knew how he had to alter things so that he wouldn't tell them about the future. "Well, you are mostly right, yes the Kyuubi did attack Konoha and yes the Yondaime did die and defeat the Kyuubi, only you can't kill a demon. No matter how power the Yondaime was, he couldn't outright kill Kyuubi. He had to do the next best thing. With the help of a man named Inverse Hikaru, he sealed Kyuubi away were it would not be able to harm another person. The Sandaime Hokage made a law forbidding the telling of anyone not present at the time about the sealing, because they sealed the Kyuubi into a baby boy. The by was to be seen as a hero, but everyone only saw the demon in the boys place."

Hinata couldn't stifle a gasp. She had figured it out. After watching Naruto for so long before they became real friends, he was the one. That is why everyone seemed to hate him. All of the adults hated Naruto and now she knew why.

"What does this have to do with anything Naruto?"

"Sasuke, haven't you ever noticed all the looks that the adults give Naruto?" Hinata asked coming out of her shock.

"Yeah, I figure it was for all the pranks he did when he was younger" **(A/N: He still had to keep some things the same, I just didn't write about them earlier since the pranks didn't have any bearing on the story set up.)**

"Not ever those pranks could make them look at Naruto the way they do. The only reason Naruto would even know about any of this is because the Kyuubi must have been sealed into him." said Hinata while moving a little closer to Naruto. She wanted to hold him and tell him his feelings, but she was not sure how he would take it. She resigned herself to be there for him if he wanted comforting. Sasuke on the other hand just shrugged his shoulders.

"So what if Naruto has a demon sealed in him. Naruto is Naruto, a good friend and shinobi. If he has a demon sealed inside of him, then that just makes him a stronger man for carrying a demon around and stopping the demon from attacking everyone. He has shown me that it is not what you see but what a person does that makes them a person. Naruto, no matter what happens, you will always be my friend. For all the help you have given me, there is no way I could ever turn my back on you."

"Sasuke is right Naruto, you had no choice in the matter, the fact that you live with this and don't let it get you down is what makes you so strong in my eyes." said Hinata looking at Naruto and trying to convey every single one of her emotions through the look without blushing.

Naruto looked up at his two teammates with a broad grin, his eye shining with unshed tears. He wouldn't be needed the tears after all. They accepted him for him. He had never been happier in all of his life. "Thanks, I was not really sure how you two would take things. I was worried that you two might react like the adults and not want to be near me."

Hinata decided that she needed to do this. She got up and walked over to Naruto and gave him a small hug, Naruto unsure of what to do slowly returned the hug. Sasuke got up and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder in a sign of friendship. After letting Naruto go, Hinata moved back to her place across the fire from Naruto, hoping the fire would block her blush. Sasuke sat back down so the three were seated around the fire in a perfect triangle.

"So what are you going to show us?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto put both hands in front of himself and concentrated for a minute. A small blue ball of chakra appeared in between his hands. "This is chakra, that much you know. But what is chakra?"

Hinata fielded this question. "Chakra is the mixing of energies from the physical and spiritual. You mix the energies together with the use of handseals."

"Correct. Very well answered Hinata-chan. Now the techniques I am going to teach the two of you only require half of chakra each." At Sasuke and Hinata's puzzled look, Naruto concentrated even harder and then slowly moved his two hands apart. The blue ball slowly broke into two different balls, one yellow and the other white. "This," holding up the yellow ball, "is chi, it is the physical aspect of chakra. While this," lower the hand with the yellow ball and raising his hand with the white ball, "is mana, the spiritual energies. Chi is used mainly for powering the body, and is a lot more potent for body upgrades than chakra. Mana is used for spells, be they sorcery, white, or shamanic in nature. It takes time and meditation to tell the difference between the two energies. The first step to learning the techniques is to have a good degree of control over your chakra so that you may begin splitting it into the two forms. Now we are going to meditate and when you think you can split the two forms from each other, then I will begin teaching you the basics of both forms. This is going to make things more difficult for you in another way. If you begin to split the chakra to its two forms, then you are going to have to keep both at the same level. I had problems around the time of the academy test because of the imbalance in my chakra. I don't want either of you to go through that so we are going to build on both skills at the same time."

Sasuke and Hinata spent the better part of two days in meditation. It was a lot harder to pull the two parts of chakra than they realized. After the second day of meditation, both of them were finally able to pull the chakra into its two parts.

"Great job both of you. It took me two weeks of constant meditation to get to the point where you two are now. Then again, I really didn't have someone guiding me through the steps like am for you." Naruto smiled and then suddenly grabbed his head as if in major pain.

Sasuke got to his feet and ran over to Naruto, "Hey man, you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I just got reminded about something else that I am going to have to show you. You already know about Kyuubi, well I managed to talk to him and learn form him thanks to someone else."

"Huh?" both asked while cocking their heads to the side and looking at Naruto.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruto said while forming the seal, two Kage Bushins formed but these were different than Naruto's normal bushins. Hinata was the first to see the difference. One had red eyes and the other had jade green eyes.

"Sasuke, Hinata-chan, there are two people I would like for you to meet."

"Speak for yourself and that idiot savant next to you, I am not a person." said the one with red eyes. Hinata could suddenly feel a very powerful chakra coming form him and started to back away, Sasuke moved over to help protect Hinata from whoever they were.

"Sasuke, Hinata-chan, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but this is Kyuubi," pointing to the clone with red eyes, "and this is Inverse Hikaru. Hikaru ended up getting himself sealed in me as an additional barrier against Kyuubi taking me over. He is the one who tried teaching me about chi and mana, but he couldn't do everything so I had a harder time learning it then you will."

"Good to finally get back out of your head. You need to start letting at least me out once in a while, you know I like to stretch my legs." Hikaru said while stretching out the body he was in.

"Sorry, but if I let you out I have to let Kyuubi out and you know we would have a hard time with that in Konoha." replied Naruto. "Now are you going to help me train these two or not?"

"Sure, sure, but right now it is time for your game with Kyuubi. He has been needing another partner for our games and it is about time to switch to Go so have fun." Hikaru said with a smile.

"Great, come on Kyuu, I have the Go board in the bag, lets start the game." Naruto and Kyuubi set up the board with Naruto being white and Kyuubi being black.

"Same stakes as usual?" asked Kyuubi.

"Not a problem with me." replied Naruto.

Hikaru walked over to the two startled genin and ushered them over to the fire. Once he set them down, he took out a package of Chestnuts. Opening the package he threw them in the fire. Hinata was unsure about what Hikaru was doing so she decided to start a conversation with him to lighten things up a little.

"Inverse-san, what are the stakes that Naruto-kun and Kyuubi-san were talking about?" she asked.

"Well, when playing Go, the winning gets to design and do a number of minor pranks based on the margin they won by on top of getting to do one major prank of choice." Hikaru responded watching the chestnuts for the proper time to pluck them from the fire.

"So if Kyuubi won by twenty stones. . ."

"Kyuubi would get to play one major prank and twenty smaller pranks on anyone person or persons he wants to. Naruto has a hard time winning at Go since he looks for the small wins and not the end game. The strategy games we play help sharpen the mind as well as increase concentration and help with the building process of mana gathering. Now, I am about to show you the training method of the first chi technique and then show you what it can do." as he finished saying that, both Hinata and Sasuke watched him. Two seconds later the chestnuts cracked open and Hikaru's hands blurred. When they came into focus again, he had every single chestnut in his hands.

Sasuke's mouth dropped, and Hinata stood there stunned. There was no possible way a bushin could have done that. A Kage Bushin would have dispersed into smoke if it takes any damage. That in itself means that Hikaru moved faster than the flame and heat to get the chestnuts out of the fire.

"This is a simple speed technique. In the end you will have gathered your chi into your arms and hands and used them to speed them up to a very great degree. Sasuke, you have already awakened the Sharingan haven't you?" he asked moving to a tree.

"Yeah, Naruto helped me with that a little while ago." he replied.

"Good, I am going to punch that tree other there and while you have the Sharingan active, I want you to count how many times I hit the tree. Hinata, I want you to use this stop watch and how long I hold the technique, and then the both of you will see the power of this technique."

Hikaru moved over to the tree and prepared himself. "Ready, GO!" Hinata started the stop watch as Hikaru started the technique. Sasuke, even with the Sharingan had a hard time keeping up with the speed of the technique, and he was only counting. After three seconds he stopped the technique and Hinata stopped the stop watch.

"Three seconds flat, not that long of a technique is it?" The Hinata looked at the place where Hikaru punched the tree, there was a five inch depression the size of a melon in the tree where he was punching.

"So how many punches did you count Sasuke?" Hikaru asked.

"I lost count somewhere near a thousand." Sasuke said open mouthed. That kind of speed was just impossible. When Hinata heard what Sasuke said, she had to pick her mouth up off the ground. There was no way someone could throw over a thousand punches in under three seconds.

"As you can see this is a very impressive speed technique. The best part of this technique is that the advanced versions of this technique can be used on any part of the body, watch, and remember, this is with one leg."

Hikaru got into a crane stance and then preceded to kick at the same speed as he punched the tree a moment ago. After three seconds, he had completely kicked through the entire tree. Both of them, sat down heavily. If this technique could be used with every single part of his body, then a person could literally be as fast as a god an take out several jounin level ninjas in a matter of moments.

Hikaru dropped to the ground and started panting. "The only draw back to this technique is that the advanced form use a LOT of chi. If it wasn't for the fact that a bushin can still be around if it has a least some mana left, I would have already been sent back inside Naruto. You will need a lot of physical training to get to the point of having enough chi to use the technique effectively with anything other than your arms I'm afraid. For now, we will start on the basic training. There is two ways to do the training, and we will be training in both fashions. The first is to try and grab chestnuts from the fire without getting burned. The other is to try and grab fish out of a tank of water without getting your hands wet. Since the technique can be quite painful with the fire, we will alternate the training methods each day switching between the two. Today is fire and tomorrow will be the fish. Once you get the technique, then we will focus on some of the other aspects of using this training to further your ninjutsu training. I expect you both to have this technique in two weeks. After that, I will start training you on mana manipulation and spells, whether you have this technique down or not."

The next two weeks were a literal hell for the two genin. Naruto spent most of his time either playing Go with Kyuubi or doing some form of physical training. Haku had taken up the responsibility of guarding Tazuna while he worked on the bridge. Zabuza and Kakashi were making a lot of headway in recovering and Kakashi actually came by to witness the genin training on the last day of the two weeks. On the last day of training, both Sasuke and Hinata had the technique down, barely. Hinata's healing creams came in very handy for the two since with the cream and the day of doing the tank training instead of the fire training, their hands weren't burned in the slightest. Hikaru on the end of the last day showed them how to very the amount of chi they put in the technique so they could use it longer or shorter, and even showed them how to use the technique to perform a 56 handseal technique in a second with the chi technique. He told them that the chi techniques didn't have true names since they could be altered to use differently as they were needed. The base name of this chi technique was Denkousekka (Lightning speed).

All three genin were given the weekend off while Kakashi, and Zabuza stood guard over Tazuna. They decided they would find a small restaurant to eat at. They took Haku with them. All four kids spent the small meal in light conversation. Hinata found a comrade in medicine while Sasuke found an equal in raw speed. With his additional training in the chi techniques, he had little doubt he would be able to take down Haku if it came to a fight. Unfortunately for Sasuke, he still didn't know about all of the tricks that Haku still had up her sleeves.

On the following Monday, Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto went back to the clearing that had become their temporary training grounds. As they sat around the fire pit, Naruto set up the wood for the fire and then told them to watch.

Holding out his right hand he said, "Fireball!" A small ball of fire collected into his hand and then he threw it into the fire pit which ignited the wood and started the fire. "That is a medium level spell, at low power. Spells use mana and incantations. It is possible to do spells without either an incantation or but it would not be as powerful. Just like chakra uses handseals for a focus, mana powered spells use incantations. As you improve on spells, you will get to the point where you can just say the name of the spell and it be as powerful as when you first learned the spell. Now if you do say the incantation after that point, the spell will be even more powerful. Watch."

Naruto turned to the practice dummy set up for them to practice the chi technique they learned. He positioned himself and cupped his hands in front of him preparing for the spell. "Source of all power, Light which burns beyond crimson, let thy power gather in my hands. Fireball!" The fireball that Naruto released into the training dummy was easily as big as Sasuke's Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Grand Fireball Technique), and did more damage to the target. The only thing was ashes.

"Learning spells is a lot like learning techniques, you have to learn and memorize the incantation for the spells and then practice them until you can increase the effects to the point where you can do each spell with just its name. After you master a spell you will learn a new spell. The only way to get better with each spell is to practice them. Now I will give you a piece of advice, you won't get physically tired since these are spiritual techniques, but the lower on mana you get the more mentally exhausted and depressed you will get. If you feel yourself starting to lose concentration, don't try and finish, take a break, rest and then when you can focus properly again, then you can try some more. I am going to leave you in the hands of Hikaru while Kyuubi wants to teach me a few more things that only I can learn since he is in me. I will check up on you every so often, to see how you guys are doing. Kage Bushin no Jutsu."

Naruto left them to train while he went off with Kyuubi to start learning some of his Demonic Techniques. On the way to his new training area, Naruto went by the bridge to talk to Kakashi. After telling him what was going on, he left with Kyuubi again. Walking around town, since he wanted to practice on the other side of the city from the others, he ran into Inari. He had meet Inari at Tazuna's daughter Tsunami's house. He had heard form Kakashi about the problems the kid was going through. Naruto followed Inari to a bridge and then set himself down right next to him. Inari looked over at Naruto and then got an angry expression on his face.

"What are you doing here?" ask asked with venom in his voice.

"I thought I might talk to you for a little bit if you don't mind." Naruto replied.

"Why, Gatou is just going to kill you and then destroy grandpa's bridge and then kill him as a sign to everyone else that doesn't like the way he does things." Inari yelled.

"So you are on Gatou's side then?"

"I hate him, but there is nothing anyone can do, he will just hire people to kill everyone and then there is nothing that can be done."

"If that is what you really believe, then go ahead and have your own pity party. I am really sure your father would want that for you. I wouldn't know since I haven't had any family ever. I never knew a father or a mother, you were lucky enough to have both. I learned a long time ago that nothing will happen if you do nothing yourself. It has to start with you and then you can change others. I know Gatou will go down by the time we leave, but if you don't learn to take a stand, then another one will come along and it will start all over again."

"You don't know what you are talking about! I hate you and hope you die! You have never had anything, so how can you know what it feels like to lode something!"

"I have friends now, and I would die to protect them since I know what it is like to have nothing. If I had to give my life so they could live and be happy, I would do it in a heartbeat. I know your father felt the same way, he wouldn't want you to be like this."

"Shut up, you know nothing, leave me alone!" Inari ran off leaving a sad Naruto.

"I hope I got threw to him. Come on, Kyuu, let's go."

The genin spent the next two weeks training almost till they couldn't move. Sasuke and Hinata learned a lot during this time and by the time the month of training was up, the bridge was all but complete. Naruto knew that anytime this week, Gatou would attack. He knew they would be better off since they had Zabuza and Haku working with them this time. Gatou only had a bunch of worthless samurai wanna-bes and himself. They would be ready and then everything would be good.

End Chapter

Author Notes:

I ended up splitting the wave mission into three parts since I decided to go ahead and put more about their training into the story. Next chapter is going to take several days since it is longer than this one and has about six fight scenes in it. I got this done faster than I thought, so I will except votes till Monday evening (8/15/05). I can already see how things are going to turn out unless I get a lot of votes suddenly to turn things around. I have the rough drafts for after the chunnin exams finished so I can spend more time editing and reviewing and posting current works. I have also talked to another author about some ideas in some of his fics, I personally recommend this author. He posts to as well as The author is BigAznDaddy on Mediaminer and BigAznDaddy99 on Standings (remember there are other votes that are not in the public reviews.)

Sakura 7 (Don't vote, never going happen)  
Ino 2 (Don't vote, never going to happen)  
Tenten 11 (Doubtful of getting enough votes)  
Hinata 33  
Temari 32  
Haku 17 (Multi appearance only)  
Multi 33

Hope you enjoy and I will see you next time.  
Ja ne

Dark Knight: The LightHawk


	9. Chapter 9

Starting Over  
Chapter 9  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything I use.

-- Wave Country Inn --

Naruto wake up lazily, he looked over to the clock next to his bed, he saw that it was after 11 am. "Kuso, someone turned off the alarm. They could be coming any time." Naruto jumped out of bed, got dressed and out the door heading for Tsunami's house.

As soon as he got to Tsunami's house, he found that she had already been taken. He made the seal and called forth both Hikaru and Kyuubi.

"Gatou is attacking. Hikaru, go save Inari, Kyuu and I are going to head for the bridge."

They separated and went to their assigned jobs. Naruto hoped theat things would be better this time around.

-- Bridge --

Kakashi, Zabuza, Haku, Sasuke, and Hinata were all watching the last of the bridge being put together. After the final stone had been put into place, Tazuna was getting ready to christen the bridge when a small bit of clapping was heard from the other side of the bridge. There on the other side of the bridge was a man in a suit and six other people. Gatou was the one clapping his hands.

"After all of your hard work, you have finally finished this eye sore. And now, you will also be here to witness its destruction, right before you die. Kill them all, destroy the bridge and I will double your money." The six men standing next to him chuckled before readying themselves and rushing forward.

"Sasuke, Hinata, Haku, you three take the three on the left, Zabuza and I will take the three to the right. Go!" screamed Kakashi as he moved in time with Zabuza to take on the three on the right.

Once the two sides had reached each other, they separated. The three on the right following Kakashi and Zabuza to the surface of the lake, and the three on the right moving into position for one on one fights with the others.

-- Hinata's Fight --

Hinata moved to the one on the far right hand side and using subtle movement, managed to pull him away for combat with herself. Settling into her Juken stance, she called to him, "My name is Hyuuga Hinata, my I have the name of the ninja I am to fight?"

"Hanabishi Hikaru, nuke-nin from Hidden Village of Stone. I feel free to give you my name since you gave me yours and you will not live long enough to tell anyone else," he replied with an evil grin and then draw out six kunai, three in each hand.

He charged forward throwing the kunai to position Hinata for his next attack, unfortunately for him, Hinata move very slightly and every single kunai missed their mark. He saw slightly shocked since she didn't move, but covered it quickly by continuing his charge and meet the Hyuuga heiress with taijutsu, unfortunately, this is the area that a Hyuuga excels at. They traded blows back and forth, for each and even punch or kick that the stone nin threw, Hinata blocked or dodged the attack. Hinata could have countered at any time, but she was sizing the nin up for other reasons.

The fight took an unexpected turn when Hinata had to dodge a jutsu that came from behind her. The Katon (fire) jutsu was followed by a Hyoton (ice) jutsu. Taking a quick look over her shoulder she realized the each of the nuke-nins were working together, even in one on one battles. This would make things a lot more difficult. Resigning herself to having to finish before she could test everything she learned, she prepared for the chi technique she learned when the stone nin she was facing opened up with a Doton technique.

"Doton Doryudan no Jutsu (Dragon Mud Canon)" Out of the bridge came a dragon's head made of stone from the bridge. When the dragon head completely formed, it opened its mouth and shot out small balls of stone at Hinata. She dodged the attacks with ease, but a sharp yelp of pain from near by caused her to look to the side. Sasuke had been hit by the technique used against her. It was time to stop this once and for all.

Hinata moved out of her Juken stance and decided to use the latest spell she had mastered. Getting ready, she summoned up the mana required and began the chant while dodging out of the stone nin's path of attacks. "Spirits of wind, gather in my hand and lend me your strength. Blam Blazer." A ball of pure wind and force gathered in her hands and she released the ball directing it the stone nin. Because he couldn't see or sense the ball of wind and force, he got hit with the full force of the attack. The attack landed in his stomach knocking the wind right out of him and leaving him defenseless. Hinata used this opportunity to use her Juken and render him unconscious with a strike to the back of his neck. With him down, now she could help Sasuke and Haku.

-- Sasuke's Battle --

Sasuke moved apart from Haku and Hinata drawing off the middle nuke-nin. He was hoping to take the guy apart from the others since he wanted to test himself. His plan worked. By starting out with simple taijutsu, Sasuke drew him away from the others. Sasuke noticed that the three one on one battles had taken the form of a triangle, giving enough room to each fighter, yet still having time to aid teammates. He hoped that this would be enough.

They traded a few taijutsu attacks back and forth, Sasuke activated the Sharingan. While using the Sharingan, Sasuke saw his opportunity to get in a decisive hit. Using the chi speed technique, he performed the handseals before the nuke-nin could even blink. "Katon Housenka no Jutsu!" Spitting out multiple small fireballs each one of the having a kunai hidden inside them, he was right on his mark. Unfortunately his opponent disappeared. 'Kawarimi, kuso!' He ducked on instinct and saw a several senbons of ice fly over his head. 'They are positioning us so that we will hit our own people with missed attacks! Clever but not good enough.'

Sasuke started moving into some of the more complex taijutsu and was starting to get his hits to land and count on the nuke-nin. Suddenly the nuke-nin grabbed him in a trapping hold and spun him around. Sasuke's eyes widen when she was the technique that the nuke-nin Hinata was fighting finished. Hinata jumped dodging the attack. Sasuke wasn't so lucky with the nuke-nin holding him. The nuke-nin dropped him the second before the technique hit and Sasuke took the full force of one of the stone balls from the dragon's mouth. He couldn't help the yelp of pain that came from his throat.

Getting up he decided to take things up a step, calling up his vast reserves of chakra, Sasuke reactivated his Sharingan which had dropped from the impact of the Doton technique, and prepared for some real high speed combat. Separating his mana and chi, he gathered the chi into his legs and arms both. Moving faster than the nuke-nin could anticipate, he charged forward and began to rain blows upon the nuke-nin, after 5 seconds of full out combat, the nuke-nin was beaten into the ground, completely unconscious. Sasuke smirked with pride over what he had done, when the strain of the technique and the chi requirements caught up with him. He fell unconscious himself.

-- Haku's fight --

Haku took the nuke-nin to the left and moved him away from the other two. Using her senbons, she started to try and cut off the use of his limbs through acupuncture. She almost succeeded when he pulled out all of the senbon and threw them back at her. He didn't have the skill to do it correctly, so she easily dodged all of them. He moved in to try and tangle her up with fighting, and managed to tie up one of her hands with a strength contest on his kunai versus her senbon. He smirked and said, "What are you going to do now?"

"This, you have one of your hands tied up so you can't do any techniques. I, on the other hand, don't have said problem." she started doing one handed seals and then said, "Hyoton Sensatsu Suishou no Jutsu (Flying Water Needle)!" Stomping her foot on the ground, water collected on the bridge rose up and formed needles if ice, before flying at the nuke-nin. Backing off and doing a quick Kawarimi allowed the nin to escape the needles and let the needles fly towards the other two groups.

Haku decided enough was enough and backed off to use her full bloodline limit. Doing the handseals, she called out, "Hyoton Makyou Hyoushou (Demonic Ice Mirrors)!" As soon as she said this, mirrors of ice started coming out of the ground around the nuke-nin and trapping him in a dome of ice mirrors. Haku took a step inside and then faded into a mirror. Her face appeared on each of the mirrors. "Now you will see and feel the greatest power of my bloodline limit." Haku started moving at incredible speeds throwing senbon at the nuke-nin with each pass. The nuke-nin did everything he could to try and dodge. Slowly he tried a few more techniques to break the prison of ice and even tried running out of the prison. Each attempt at escape proved futile and earned him even more senbon. He was never able to complete any technique since each attempt allowed Haku to send even more senbon into the nuke-nin. Soon the battle was over with Haku landing the senbon shots needed to put the nuke-nin unconscious and looking for all the world dead. With her nin down, Haku turned to see Sasuke finish his nuke-nin and Hinata finish hers at almost the same exact time.

Turning over to the edge of the bridge, she looked out to see Kakashi and Zabuza surrounded by last three nuke-nins and both of the jounins were bloody and fatigued. Calling over Sasuke and Hinata, she prepared to jump in to save them when Naruto showed up to help the two jounins, with a single Kage Bushin in tow.

-- Kakashi's and Zabuza's fight --

Kakashi and Zabuza managed to lure the three higher powered nins off the bridge to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. They had succeeded in their plan and now it was a three on two fight. Kakashi looked over to Zabuza and nodded lifting his forehead protecter off his Sharingan eye and Zabuza started making the handseals for his favorite technique. Quietly he called out, "Kirigakure no Jutsu." Suddenly, a large section of the lake they were fighting in was covered in a deep mist. Zabuza went off trying for quick kills on the two to the left, while Kakashi went after the one on the right.

Kakashi went for using simple jutsus to open the fight. Simpler jutsus used less chakra and he was already using a good bit with both the Sharingan and the water walking techniques. Using combinations of Mizu Bushin (Water Clone) and Kage Shuriken (Shadow Shuriken A/N Shuriken hidden in the shadow of the first.) he created five clones and all five of them sent out kunai that had two other kunai hidden in their shadows. Using two kunai of his own the nuke-nin either dodged or deflected all of the kunai sent after him. They continued throwing shuriken and kunai back and forth only to have them deflected or dodged until they moved to classic taijutsu, with punches and kicks being thrown and blocked by both. Having the Sharingan activated, Kakashi was able to move faster and predict where his opponent was going to strike and thus be out of the way with a counter attack ready. He didn't want to use the techniques that Naruto, Kyuubi, and Hikaru had taught him since he didn't want the surprise to be taken away, nor the secrets of the techniques to get out.

Zabuza on the other hand was having a slightly easier time fighting his two. With them not being able to see him, he quickly and quietly got around both of them and started hacking away. It was only years of honed reflexes to danger that saved the two nuke-nins from being sliced in half on multiple occasions. Everything was going good for him, until a small slip allowed one of the nuke-nin to stab him with a kunai in the arm. Although the nuke-nin managed a hit, he took a gash in his arm rendering it unusable. The other nuke-nin took that time to try his hand at Zabuza and prepared his technique.

"Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Dragon Technique)." The water of the lake started spinning and coming up forming a giant dragon that sped its way to Zabuza. Zabuza quickly slid out of its way and prepared for its return by using his own water dragon to cancel it out like he had done before with Kakashi. It worked, but it cost him another hit. And it also had a side effect of losing control over the Kirigakure no Jutsu. Once the mist cleared, he saw the predicament he and Kakashi were in. Both of them had taken a few wounds and were now surrounded. He knew that if they worked together it would be a lot easier to take down the three of them, but they had never worked together before and they didn't fully know each others abilities. It was times like this when true teamwork would be able to win. They just didn't know enough about how the other fought to work as a truly effective team.

Kakashi and Zabuza looked up as the fight on the bridge itself finally finished and saw the other three getting ready to give them a hand, before they could however, they got help from another source. That source was two Narutos one or both of them clones.

"Am I too late to help?" one of them asked.

"Nope, right on time," answered Kakashi.

-- Other side of town --

Inari was following the two people who kidnapped his mother, if he couldn't get anyone to help him, then he was going to do it on his own. Naruto had helped him see what was always right in front of him and he was going to make his father proud. He had finally found them and was going to take his mother back.

"Hey, you let my mother go!" inari screamed to the two thugs holding Tsunami.

Tsunami turned around and looked to she her son standing there. "No Inari, run, get away from here!" She turned to look at the men who held her. "If you hurt him I will kill myself!"

Zori quickly sent a strong punch to Tsunami's gut while saying, "We can't have that now can we, looks like we finally have a little fun, eh Waraji?"

"Sounds good to me." Both of the samurai started to move forward drawing their swords, once fully drawn, they moved into a run to kill Inari.

Inari closed his eyes and waited until he felt a slight touch and tug and then he was standing on the opposite side of the bridge, with his unconscious mother laying down beside him. He looked up to see Naruto right there with his back to him.

"Heroes always arrive just in time. You did a very good thing Inari, I am very proud of you. Now you need to stay by your mother and help her while I take out the trash." Naruto (Hikaru) gave a thumbs up to Inari behind his back and prepared to deal with the two stupid samurai. "Now how to take out the trash, I know!"

Naruto sprinted between them and kicked both of them into the lake with one shot. While they were getting out of the lake, Hikaru used the time to set up for something that would make the others howl with laughter. Using fine wire like Kakashi, Hikaru quickly disarmed the two idiots before tying them up. Using a kunai, he made several small cuts along the fabric of their pants and Zori's shirt. After making the cuts he helped Inari carry everyone back to the town. He set them in town center and told Inari, "I have to go and help the others now, take car of the rest here. You can do it, I know you can."

"You bet I can, just wait till you get back!" Inari screamed and went to start gathering people up. Hikaru took off for the bridge.

-- Final fight --

Naruto and Kyuubi made it to the shoreline to see Zabuza used the Suiryuudan no Jutsu and clear the mist. They where glad that Hinata and Sasuke had managed to hold their own and did so well in their training. They figured it was time for a little fun. Kyuubi and Naruto flew off the shore and ran on the surface of the lake like a couple of jounins. Once they reached the site of the fight Naruto called out, "Am I too late to help?"

"Nope, right on time," answered Kakashi.

"Its party time, lets get wild!"  
Kyuubi went off to the left while Naruto went right. Kyuubi took one look at disabled nuke-nin and thought of something fun to do to him. Looking to the nuke-nin's companions he smirked when both of them meet his eyes, "Youkai Higi Me no Gihen (Demon Secret Technique Eyes of Deception)!" once the two nins had locked eyes with Kyuubi, it was over for them. They would only see and believe what Kyuubi planted in their minds, as such, he turned friend to foe, he changed the injured man's appearance in their eyes to that of Kakashi and Kakashi to the injured man. Both of the nuke-nins comrades attack him thinking it was Kakashi and the nuke-nin didn't live very long due to the shock of his allies turning against him in suck a manner.

"That's one, Naruto?"

"Got two coming up right here." Kakashi, Zabuza and everyone on the bridge set in shock on how things were going now. Kyuubi with a look had performed some kind of genjutsu that turned two of the nuke-nins on their injured partner, and now it looks as if Naruto is going to try and up that. Naruto ran up behind one of the nuke-nins that was still trying to get over the shock of what had happened, and it wasn't going away since Kyuubi was making him see it over and over again.

Naruto then used a kunai to completely humiliate the nin. He used the kunai with the speed technique to completely slice off every stitch of clothing he wore, even his boxers. Kyuubi released both of them from their shocked states so they could see his handy work. Both nuke-nins looked at each other and then at the boy who was laughing his ass off when they decided enough was enough. They used their headbands to cover the important things and went after the kid. Kyuubi yelled, "Move it kid, or you are going to be in a world of pain!"

"Nah, they are Ice Bit!" (For those of you new to slayers, Flare arrow is a spell that creates and arrow of fire, where as Freeze arrow creates an arrow of ice. Flare bit is a dagger sized Flare Arrow, Ice Bit is its counter part.) the spells was so low powered it created a kunai sized projectile that hit right dead center of both of their forehead protecters. The end rest of the spell was two nuke-nins in extreme pain from having their most private parts nearly frozen off. Every man within sight except Naruto and Kyuubi could feel for them and unconsciously crossed their legs. Naruto and Kyuubi nearly busted their sides laughing until Hikaru came up and granted them a little relief.

"Flare bit." The attack was right on the mark, unfreezing and nearly roasted them in the process. Fortunately, they passed out from pain. By the time the others got to them, they had nearly drowned. Everyone got back to the bridge with the nuke-nins tied up, Sasuke walked over to Naruto and nearly decked him saying, "How could you do that to another man?"

Naruto rubbed his jaw and looked at Sasuke before saying, "Hey, it is all in good fun, and it didn't kill him or hit me. Either way he deserved it for hurting my friends."

Naruto didn't get to say much else. Just as he was about to say something else, a laugh was heard from the other side of the bridge. Looking down, they saw Gatou and about fifty samurai on the city side of the bridge. Zabuza and Haku took a look of disgust while looking at them. "That looks to be about everyone that Gatou has working for him. Even though they are just low level thugs, the numbers are going to hurt us." said Zabuza while looking to Kakashi.

"Well, well, well. I thought you might have betrayed me Zabuza, I guess it is a good thing I didn't plan on playing you anything anyway. It also looks like you have taken care of the others so I won't have to pay them, and they wore you down enough for me normal men to take care of. Life is good." Gatou said before moving to the back of the group. "Kill them all and I will double your pay for the ones who bring me their heads!" the thugs started to move in.

"Kakashi-sensei, can I cut loose this one time?" asked Naruto in a pleading tone of voice, "Please!"

"OK, but if you collapse again like last time, I don't want to hear about it." he replied while moving away.

"Yes, yes, yes! You are going down Gatou, and all of your little friends too!" Naruto threw his hands in the air and then pulled them back cupping them at his side. He focused his determination and pulled his chi into his hands. He used the confidence from his friends and teammates, he used his love of the village, he used his depression of being called a demon, he used his hatred of oppression, he used his anger of Gatou, and he used his chakra to start it spinning.

The others looked to Naruto as he started his technique, whatever it was. Then, between his cupped hands, a small ball of blue light started to form. Slowly the ball grew bigger as it started changing colors from blue to pink, then green, then red, then when it grew to the size of both of his hands, it turned pure white and started to spin and break apart, only it didn't break apart into pieces as it stayed together and started spinning in multiple directions. The ball of energy was the size of a basketball. Finally he pushed both of his hands forward and the ball flew out of his hands, flying along the ground.

When the ball came into contact of the samurai charging who didn't get out of its way, they where suddenly thrown to the side into other samurai who did get out of the way. When it finally got to Gatou, he was so surprised he was hit full force and thrown into the air. Hikaru used a Ray Wing to catch Gatou in the air and held him by his leg upside down. Hikaru flew over to the others of Naruto's team with Gatou screaming like a little girl.

"So this is the all powerful Gatou, I think it is about time you were taught some manners," said Zabuza as he took hold of Gatou and turned to the others, "If you don't want to share his fate, you better leave now.

"There are only a few of them, come one, if we save him, we will get an even bigger reward!" screamed one of the samurai as he started to rally the others.

"Only a few of us huh?" questioned Naruto as he made the seal for his signature technique. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Fifty Narutos lined up next to him. Kakashi got the idea and did the same thing, followed by Zabuza's Mizu Bushins after handing Gatou over to Haku who used her mastery of water and ice to encase Gatou up to his neck in inch thick ice.

If that wasn't enough to turn the tide of thugs what happened next was. A single crossbow bolt landed in the middle of the stone bridge. Looking to the direction of the crossbow bolt, everyone saw that the entire town had come out to fight. The thugs lost their will to fight and made a brake for the boats near them. Gatou and the nuke-nins were taken into town where Gatou was strung up like Inari's father figure had been. After a long time there with many insults and beatings from the townspeople in general, he promised on pain and humiliation of death that he would never return, or be slowly put to death by the townspeople.

Kakashi wrapped up the nuke-nins and sent them back to Konoha by a couple of his summoned dogs pulling a large wagon. He also sent a message that these nuke-nins were captured by himself and his team, with his team doing more of the work. He also sent a full written report with the nuke-nins about what happened as well as the possibility of Zabuza and Haku joining Hidden Leaf.

Haku and Zabuza gathered what was left of their things from Gatou's base as well as showing a few of the town council where the base was so that they could use the things they found to help themselves. After collecting their things, they went back to the hotel where the genin were gathering their things to leave just like Kakashi went back to Tazuna's house to collect his things. Once everyone gathered at the bridge, they said their goodbye to everyone, Inari and Naruto's goodbye was sweet as far as Hinata was concerned since both of them were trying not to cry and not succeeding very well. She wanted nothing more than to go over to both of them and give them both hugs, but she was still too shy to do anything with Naruto other than train.

"You know you are going to have to do something with him soon or you will loose him to someone else." Sasuke said to Hinata. Hinata blushed and looked at Sasuke.

"I can't do that. What if he doesn't feel the same way? I wouldn't be able to handle the rejection. As long as he is happy, I am happy and will do anything to keep him happy." she replied with a blush covering her face.

"I know him, he will except you, you just have to let him know." Sasuke said. He knew she wouldn't but he still had to try.

The group made their way back to Konoha slowly while holding conversations between each other. Kakashi and Zabuza talked about the different things that the jounins of Konoha did, while Haku and Hinata exchanged medical information on plants creams and general medicine. Haku also offered to teach Hinata about acupuncture with thrown senbon if she was interested. Hinata liked the idea, and decided that she would try it out later.

Sasuke and Naruto talked about training methods, techniques and what other things that Naruto was now going to be able to teach them. Sasuke was really interested in the last technique that Naruto used and wanted to train in that. Naruto promised to teach him a lot of things, if he was willing to use the Sharingan only as a last resort and not every single fight. Sasuke agreed to this and they began to discuss what would happen once they got back to Konoha.

After a full day of walking, Team seven and friends arrived at the gates of Konoha, one of the Chunnin gate guards moved forward to stop them.

"State your name and business."

"Hatake Kakashi and genin team seven reporting back from mission to wave country and escorting two nuke-nins to the Hokage on request for asylum." Kakashi replied while waiting for the Chunnin to make up his mind about what he was going to do. The chunnin called over two of the ANBU who were also stationed at the gate. After a quick word with them, he turned back to Kakashi.

"These two will help you escort them to see the Hokage, you may enter and have a pleasant day."

"Sasuke, Hinata, Naruto, you have the next two days off to recover, then meet me at the bridge as usual."

"Hai." they chorused as they left for their own homes.

Kakashi and the ANBU escorted Zabuza and Haku to the Hokage Tower. Once arriving, the ANBU left. Kakashi knocked on the door to the Hokage's office waiting for the sign to come in.

"Enter." came the reply from inside the office. Kakashi opened the door and walked inside, followed by Zabuza and Haku.

"Ah, Kakashi, I see you have finally made it back. And who have you brought with you this time?" asked Sarutobi-sama looking at the two people in his office.

"Did you receive the package I had my nin dogs deliver?" he asked. Sarutobi-sama nodded his hand motioned for the other to take a seat in his office. The three of the complied with his wish taking a seat and Kakashi continued. "In the report I sent, I made mention of two nuke-nins wishing for asylum and about Uzumaki Naruto being the one to gain their trust. Hokage-sama, allow me to introduce Momochi Zabuza and his assistant Haku." They both stood up and bowed, although anyone could tell this was a hard thing to do for Zabuza. Not because he was injured. It was just his pride.

"Do you not have a family name Haku?" asked the Hokage.

"My entire family was killed just after I learned about my bloodline limit. I decided that they needed to rest in piece. I have forever given up that family name and use Momochi when it is needed. Zabuza-sama found he in the streets and raised me to be his tool. After talking to Naruto-san, he has changed his mind and has allowed me to do as I see fit. We came here with the hopes of becoming nin here and helping repay Naruto for what he has done for us." replied Haku, she was hoping beyond hope that the Hokage would grant their request.

"Very well. I have read the report that Kakashi has given on the abilities of both of you. I will allow the both of you to have temporary Konoha citizenship and ninja rights at a chunnin rank. Both of you will be under a probationary period of one month. After such time, Zabuza will be given the rank jounin for an month of probation before it becomes permanent. Haku, you will have to take the jounin exam like anyone else if you wish to advance in rank. Also, as part of the probation, Zabuza will have an ANBU escort with him at all times and on every mission. Haku, you will also need an escort for the first month. Have you given any thought to what type of things you would like to do here in Konoha?"

"I have always had an interest in medicine, Hokage-sama."

"Very well then. I can have one of our medic-nins be your escort and teach you some of the techniques that Konoha medic-nins use. If you prove your worth, at the end of your probation, I will assign you to Konoha's medic-nin staff."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Haku said with a bow.

"You have been awfully quiet Zabuza, is there anything you would like to say about the arrangements?" asked the Hokage looking at Zabuza.

"The only thing that matters to me is Haku's safety. I have raise her and helped her. This is what she wants and I will do what is necessary for her to be safe and happy here." Zabuza said while looking directly at the Hokage.

"Very well. Kakashi, would you be kind enough to take these two to the Administration Building, get their IDs and housing arrangements for them. I will have the escorts waiting for them once they are finished."

"Of course Hokage-sama, I have something else to speak to you about in private if you please."

"Certainly, Zabuza, Haku, would you please wait outside with the ANBU until we are finished?"

Neither answered, they just both got up and went outside.

"So what is it you wish to discuss with me Kakashi?"

"Hokage-sama, Naruto has told the others and started their training. I would like permission to reveal the training house to Sasuke and Hinata and take team seven in to train for the chunnin exams next month."

"Hum, I have had a similar request made of Gai in regards to his prize student Lee. Do you think that both you and team seven can share the training house with Gai and Lee for that year?"

Kakashi grimaced. It had been a while since he had had to deal with BOTH Gai and his carbon copy at the same time. One was bad enough, he was not sure that he could love with both of them for a year. "Is there any other way around it Hokage-sama?"

"I am afraid not, the house is being used as often as possible by the ANBU and hunter-nins to further prepare them for the chunnin mission and the war to follow. I have but a single slot open and I cannot favor one over the other. Gai's pupil is a year older and thus more deserving of the usage of the house, but on the same hand, without Naruto, we wouldn't have the house in the first place."

"I see, well I guess we will have no choice but to except. Is anyone from Gai's team going to be joining Lee?"

"I am afraid not. The other two do not show either the discipline or desire for the advanced training provided by the house."

"Very well then. I will tell Team Seven to be ready for the training and chunnin exams." Kakashi stood up saluted and left the office.

Picking up Zabuza and Haku, Kakashi lead them to the Administration building and then left once they had everything settled and the ANBU had taken them to their house. Walking back to the house he shared with Iruka and Naruto, he began to wonder what it would be like for everyone to be in the house at once. He knew of Hinata's infatuation with Naruto, and hoped that with time alone, they would be able to sort things out. This was going to be a long month, and year and a month long to be precise.

End Chapter

Author Notes:

Sorry this has taken so long, but I had to re-write the battle scenes to get them the way I liked them. I also have to thank Dragon Noir for his help with some of the detail work in the story. The voting is over, but I am going to make everyone but a select few wait to find out who won the vote.

Something I have been trying to decide on I am going to let everyone choose for me. I have the year long training pretty much finished, it just needs to be edited. I will let you decide if you want that chapter next, or the training to come around as flashback in later chapters instead. If I drop the training chapter, the next chapter will be the start of the Chunnin Exam. Let me know what you think and I will hopefully have the next chapter in a week or two. I am going on a vacation so won't have a lot of time for editing or writing. This is the prefect place to get your opinions.

Ja ne

Dark Knight: The LightHawk


	10. Chapter 10

Starting Over  
Chapter 10  
Disclaimer: I own nothing, please don't sue

(A/N For those of you who have commented on the spellings of the Slayers Spells, I know that there are several versions of the translations. I am using a book called The Slayers Spell Bible which has most of the spells, and their incantations as well. That is where I am getting my information so please try and understand if the spells are not the same as you think. One such instance is the spell Laguna Blade, which is the Ragna Blade in the Slayers Spell Bible. Just letting you know.

On with the Story)

-- Team 7 Meeting grounds three days after Wave Country mission --

Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata waited for their jounin sensei, Kakashi, to show up to tell them about what is going on. They talked for a little while before starting to work on some of the minor training exercises for increasing their mana and chi. After waiting two hours, Kakashi finally showed up.

"Yo," Kakashi said while appearing in a puff of smoke.

"Kakashi-sensei, its about time you got here," said Naruto while glaring at Kakashi.

"Sorry, I just got finished with a meeting. I have entered the three of you in the chunnin exams coming up next month. As such, we have been given the month off to train."

"YATTA! No more boring missions!" Naruto screamed while dancing around. Sasuke looked forward to a month of solid training and Hinata was looking forward to trying to fix her shyness problems and tell Naruto how she felt.

"Ah, by the way, I have gotten the four of us authorization to use the training house next week."

Naruto suddenly stopped dancing around and looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, I thought genin were not allowed to use the training house?" Naruto asked having a confused expression on he face.

"Normally yes, but considering I have a little pull and another jounin and his pupil are being given the same right, the Hokage is going to have all of us use the house that day."

"Kakashi, what is this training house that you and Naruto are talking about?" Sasuke asked, his curiosity peaked.

"Ma, I can't tall you now, but I can tell you that the house is an S-Class village secret. To be given the honor of using the house is a rare thing. Mostly the training house is used for jounin level ANBU and hunter-nins of Konoha. Only those trusted with its secret can use the house. I can give you a little clue for next week though. We are going to go in the house Monday and come out Tuesday, but you will need to pack all of your supplies and at least one weeks worth of clothing. Till Monday then, you can train on your own." Kakashi left before he could be questioned any further leaving Naruto to field any questions left.

"Naruto, how do you know about this house?" asked Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, I can't tell you here, but if you two want to come to my house for a quick talk, I can tell you a little more about it." Both Sasuke and Hinata nodded and left following Naruto as he made his way home.

After reaching Naruto's house, they went inside and up to his room. There, Naruto made two Kage Bushins and allowed Hikaru and Kyuubi to use them. "Hikaru, I need a barrier spells put up against eavesdropping."

"No problem." Hikaru concentrated for a minute and then, they could feel a powerful spell being placed over the room. "There you go, one super powered barrier spell, one that even the Hokage would have a hard time getting through."

"Thanks again Hikaru. Now that we have a little privacy, I think it is about time to tell you both everything about my past. First of all, I have known about Kyuubi and Hikaru since I was three. Both of them helped train me in my sleep. They taught me languages, history, science, mostly a lot of book work to help bring my intelligence levels higher faster than normal. Most people would have considered me a genius, but I am not. I just had a lot of help very early in life. After learning about the two of them, I had a talk with the Hokage, he agreed to help me. I would provide the information for certain things that I wouldn't be able to do on my own, and the Hokage and anyone he trusted would help he do things. The first major project we did together was the building of a training house.

"The training house was built over a few years with multiple seals being placed all over the house and its foundation. The house would allow up to ten people to live within the house comfortably. The main purpose behind the house it the courtyard in the middle of the training house. The courtyard is a training field with several differences. First, the courtyard has six seals that change the environment, I will teach you how to use them later. Basically the training yard can simulate any terrain and any weather condition at any time of the day. The nest part of the training room is that it allows for the gravity to be altered. A higher level of gravity allows for harder training and faster results. That is how I became so strong so fast."

Both Hinata and Sasuke were in shock, if this was just the tip of the iceberg as Naruto alluded to, then they would have an advantage so great that they could become jounins in no time. Then something clicked with Hinata, she remembered her father speaking about a child ANBU working for the Hokage several years ago, and then around the time of the Uchiha massacre, he suddenly stopped working for the Hokage.

"Your the Hokage's 'little demon' aren't you?" she asked with a little bit of fear and awe in her voice.

"Huh?" said Sasuke looking over to Hinata. "The 'little demon' was an ANBU member, there is no way Naruto could be him, even if he is short."

"I'm sorry Sasuke, she is right. For all of the help I gave and how fast I progressed, the Hokage made me a special ANBU so that I could always be by him. I was one of the ones that was there the night of the massacre, and I was also part of planning for that night. I tried as best I could to save more, but it wasn't possible." Naruto looked away with shame in his eyes, he never really intended for

Sasuke looked at Naruto with unbelieving eyes. How could Naruto be an ANBU if he was merely a genin, not only that, how could he be one BEFORE he was even a genin. "Naruto, I . . . I don't know if I can believe you. I know how powerful you are, and I know you have techniques that even the Sharingan can't copy, but being ANBU before you were even a genin. That is not possible!"

"The Hokage gave me the position. I took it since I was helping other jounin at the time learn the same things I am going to be teaching you. The Hokage sent me back to the Academy after the massacre so that I could try and live a normal life, make friends my own age, and things like that."

Sasuke was having a hard time believing what he was being told. He knew Naruto was a lot more powerful then he had once believed, but to have been in ABNU before he was even a genin. Slowly he went over everything Naruto had said and done in the past. After careful consideration, he came to realize that just like the information about Kyuubi, he kept the information to himself because of all the issues it would cause. Sasuke felt that if Naruto trusted him enough to tell him these things, then he should be honored. Sasuke looked over to Naruto, and saw his cringed expression. He decided that he was going to milk this just for the fun of it. "Alright, let's say I believe you. That would mean that you have been holding out on us since the beginning. I don't like being lied to."

"Sasuke!" Hinata said, "He couldn't tell us because the Hokage made him promise, and we weren't even out of the academy yet then."

"That's still no excuse for keeping this information from us. As punishment for keeping these secrets . . ." Sasuke paused and was about to start again when Hinata interrupted him again.

"Sasuke, you can't do that to him, he is already given us some much, how can you punish him?"

"Easy, his punishment is to train us in everything he can before the Chunnin Exam. We are going to need every edge we can get, and it seems only fare that since he kept these things a secret, he should train us all he can." Sasuke finished with a smug smile on his face. Hinata just looked like a ghost and then caught Sasuke's wink. Naruto on the other hand, just looked like he was about to faint. He couldn't believe the only thing he wanted was to learn what he knew. He thought it was going to be harder than this.

"OK, if that is what you two want, then that is what you both will get. I will say this right now though, the training is going to be a whole lot harder than anything you have ever been through."

Sasuke nodded and Hinata looked a little confused and worried. Were they really ready for everything that Naruto and Kakashi had to teach them, but then again, they had a whole year for training, and it would only take a day of their time.

-- Three days later at the training house --

Team Seven meet at the bridge as normal with the exception of Kakashi being on time. From the bridge, Kakashi led to a house on the edge of Konoha's inner forest. In front of the house were two people. The taller of the two was wearing a green spandex suit with orange leg and forearm warmers and a jounin vest like Kakashi. His hair was jet black and slick reflecting the sun light, and was cut in a bowl style. Right next to him was a smaller carbon copy minus the vest. Both of them had LARGE FUZZY EYEBROWS. IT made Sasuke a little sick just looking at them. Hinata didn't know what to think, and Naruto just put his head in his hands thinking,_ 'great, Gai-san has a carbon copy of himself.'_

"AH! YOU HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED MY RIVAL, NOW WE SHALL SEE WHO HAS THE BEST STUDENT. THIS IS MY PRIZE STUDENT ROCK LEE!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"WILL YOU TWO CUT THAT OUT!" Screamed Naruto after having enough of their antics. "I know you are proud of your student Gai-san, but please don't do that again, or this is going to be a long year for everyone."

Lee looked to Naruto who had just interrupted his and Gai's bonding time. He didn't look like much, but then he knew that looks can be deceiving. Moving in front of Naruto he said, "I am Rock Lee, Gai-sensei's number one student, who are you?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage. I have trained with Gai-san before and now we are going to be training together. These are my teammates, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Hinata. I am sure you have meet our sensei, Hatake Kakashi." Naruto said while introducing everyone.

"Mah, I think it is about time to go ahead and head inside to start this little training trip." said Kakashi as he walked up to the door and opened it.

Everyone went into the house and Kakashi closed the door. Everyone took off their shoes, sandals, and boots. Leaving their bags in the hallway, they went to the living space and sat around the table. It was time for everyone to be told what was going to happen.

"Now that everyone is ready, I think that it is about time to tell you what you will be experiencing here for the next year." Kakashi started off. Lee had other thoughts running through his head though.

"Gai-sensei, Kakashi-san and Naruto both said a year, what are they talking about? The chunnin exam is in three weeks."

"Mah, if you let me finish, I will tell you everything you need to know." Kakashi looked at Lee to make sure he wasn't going to say anything else and then continued. "This house is called the training house, to everyone who know the house exists, but doesn't know about its true purpose, it is merely a house that is used by the ANBU and a few select jounin to train for a day. The true purpose of this house is that it is a place for the elite to train for a year in a day. The house was made with several seals that allows for the people inside of the house to train for an entire year inside the house, while only twenty-four hours pass on the outside. The house has some training rooms that will make training anywhere else seem to pale in comparison. Gai and I have been given permission for the four of you to know about this house and train for the chunnin exams. The only thing is that you can't tell anyone else about this house, or you will lose the privilege to train here every again, and the person who brought you to this house will also lose that privilege. So if you tell anyone about this place Lee, Gai will not be able to use this place ever again. The same goes for the three of you." Kakashi finished his speech looking at Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata.

"We know the drill Kakashi-sensei," said Sasuke. "So what is so special about this place other than the fact that you can train for a year in the span of a day?"

"That is easier to answer if we go to the courtyard, otherwise known as the training area." Kakashi got up and lead the others to the training area. Kakashi took a step into the training area to see if the seals were reset back to the base configuration and nodded before bringing the others into the room. The courtyard itself was a beautiful garden with a pond and rock garden as well. It also had a few Bonsai trees in planters around the guard rail.

"Before I start showing you the reason this is also called the training room, Gai you need to go ahead and remove your weights, you remember what happened the first time right?"

Gai immediately removed his weights and nodded to Lee to do the same. When Gai's weights dropped, they left a foot deep crater in the walkway. Lee's left a crater about half that. Sasuke's and Hinata's eyes bugged out at the sight. They could only imagine the amount of weight that would cause those craters and the two were walking like it was nothing to them.

"Good, now follow me." Kakashi walked over to the panel that hid the seals. Opening the panel to show everyone, "This is the control panel for the training room. Each seal affects a different aspect of the training room. The simple reason I asked them to remove the weights is this." Kakashi bite his thumb and ran it over the sixth seal creating another line in the wheel seal. The moment that the line dried a second later, Hinata and Sasuke felt a lot heavier. "I have just doubled the effects of gravity in this room. In essence, the weights that Gai and Lee were wearing, would be twice what they were wearing. That would have been painful for Lee since he would not be ready for that kind of weight. It was hard for Gai the first time if I remember correctly."

Gai and Kakashi spent the next hour explaining the different seals and how they would effect the training room. After the explanations were finished, they left the training room, and went to select their rooms. Today was just going to be a meeting day with the training beginning tomorrow. After the rooms had been picked, everyone relaxed around the house until it was time for dinner. Everyone gathered for dinner and enjoyed a meal together, well if you call yelling from two people about the POWER of YOUTHFUL SPIRITS to the point of a near full scale brawl between Lee, Sasuke, and Naruto enjoyable then it was.

The next day started the training sessions. The first month of training was light workout. The workout consisted of being put under twice the gravity and doing sets of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and running. This was followed by target practice with kunai and shuriken and then light sparring with a five minute break between each exercise. This simple exercise routine went on for the next month. The physical training increased both Hinata's and Sasuke's stamina so that they would be able to at least keep up with Lee and Naruto when they moved to the next phase of their training.

The following month, all four genins were put to the test with a strict training regimen from Gai. They had to do 300 push-ups, 400 sit-ups, and 100 laps around the training area, before moving onto post training (punching and kicking a training post) and then finally full contact sparring. Gai mainly focus on getting Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata to be on par with Lee in his weights. But all of Gai's training was done at three times gravity. It pushed Hinata and Sasuke a lot harder than Naruto since he was used to five times gravity himself last time he was here.

After two months of strict physical training, they started on the mental training. What is worse is that the mental training took the shape of lectures, debates, and strategy games. Lee may have been the best physically of the four, but Naruto shined in the mental department. Kakashi had asked him not to hold back during this year so that the others would know what would be expected of them. It was also during these two months that Hinata had finally gotten up the courage to talk to Naruto about her feelings, or at least try.

-- Medical Lab Training Room/two months and one week --

Hinata was mixing together some more of her medical cream for the others to use. The medical lab's library had some different texts to make the cream more powerful and potent with the ingredients she had on hand. She was making the forth jar of her cream when she saw Naruto walking by the lab and decided to go ahead and tell him about her feelings.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Huh, did you say something Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked walking over to the door to the lab.

"Can I speak to you for a few minutes Naruto-kun. In private, I have some things I would like to tell you," she said with a blush on her face.

"Sure do you want to use the training room for the gardens?"

"I think that would be lovely." Hinata followed Naruto to the training room and set up the seals. They sat down on one of the benches between the rock garden and the pond.

"Naruto, since we have been friends, I have been thinking about you. I have started thinking about you and our friendship more and more wince we became genin on the same team. I can honestly say . . . that I have feelings for you . . . that are . . . more than . . . what a friend should have for another friend." Hinata was starting to get more and more nervous with each line. She didn't know if she could go through with this or not.

"Hinata-chan, what are you saying? Do you mean that you think of me as a brother?" Naruto looked confused for a minute before saying the absolute worst thing in Hinata's mind. "That must be it, and you know, I think of you more like a sister too. Do you want me to start calling you Hinata-neechan now?"

Hinata was on the verge of tears. '_NO This is not how things were supposed to go! I was going to tell him I love him more than life itself and now he thinks of me as a SISTER! Why does this have to happen to me!' _"You . . . are . . . right Naruto-kun. I was hoping . . . that you . . . would feel the same way." She was crying on the inside and started crying on the outside when Naruto moved over and gave her a hug. It was a hug she returned but cried since it was not the way she wanted it.

"I have always wanted a sister and now I have two. Haku-neechan said she would help me and be my brother a few days ago since I helped both her and Zabuza-san. This is great!"

Hinata cried even harder. She was happy for Naruto and grateful for Haku, but she wanted more. 'Maybe this will be more in the future. I must think of this as a step to the future and maybe with more prodding, he will change his opinion of me and then we can be together the way I want us to be.'

Naruto and Hinata stayed in the gardens for several hours holding each other. Hinata decided to take this time and enjoy what she could. They talked about everything and nothing at the same time. Hinata could almost believe that they were a true couple and not just people acting like family. It was hard for her, but it was a moment she wouldn't trade for the world either.

-- Three days later --

Naruto was in the training room practicing. As Naruto was practicing, Gai walked into the room. Naruto looked over and stopped his workout. "Gai-san how are things going today?"

"Very well Naruto-kun. Lee is a very capable student and is a joy to teach."

"The fact that he is becoming your carbon copy has nothing to do with this right?" Naruto asked with a smirk on his face. He knew that Gai always wanted a family, but with his life the way it was, he never had time to find a woman that would put up with him for a family.

"Now that is not fair Naruto-kun."

"I know, I know. I am glad you finally found someone that you could mold like a son. I think it will help you in the future."

"Yes, I have been taking your words seriously. I think that it is time for Lee to start learning the next stages with your two teammates."

"Gai-san, Sasuke and Hinata have already been taught a few spells and the chi speed technique. They haven't gotten to the advanced stages of the speed technique though. I am also curious about something as well. I have yet to see Lee practice anything other than the advanced Taijutsu you have taught him. Why is that?"

Gai got a thoughtful look on his face and then told Naruto the truth. "Lee is completely incapable of using chakra. He will never be able to use any form of ninjutsu or genjutsu, but he can use the chakra his body produces to enhance his taijutsu, that is the reason I taught him the taijutsu I did."

"I see, have you had any of the medic-nins looks at Lee?"

"I have, they say that there is something wrong with his coil system since it was a Hyuuga that did the examination. The way his coils are, the energies just don't mix properly. There is no way to fix this problem either."

"I see, have you tried teaching him any if the chi techniques or spells yet?"

"I have started to use a similar method to the breaking point technique to increased his physical toughness, and prepare him for the initial lotus, but it is not working the same."

"Then it is time for Sasuke and Hinata to learn their second chi technique. We will start of the training for it next month. They should be able to learn it in a month and then another month of mental exercises before moving on to spell training. Lee should be able to do the spells. If the energies are not mixing then that doesn't mean that they are not being produced."

"We can only try and see what happens."

"Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst, that way, we won't miss anything.

-- Month Three --

Training began for Sasuke, Hinata, and Lee in the breaking point technique. Both Hinata and Sasuke weren't too sure about this training until Naruto, Kakashi, and Gai showed them what the breaking point training was capable of. Gai picked up a boulder and hurled it at Naruto. Hinata and Sasuke had to be held back by Kakashi while they watched the boulder fly at Naruto who wasn't moving. Naruto simple raised a hand at the incoming boulder and pointed to it. The boulder dropped and the minute it touched his finger, it shattered into small pieces.

"That is the breaking point technique. The training serves two purposes. The first is that once completed, you will be able to shatter any inanimate object with a mere touch. The side effect of the training is that you will be a whole more resistant to physical attacks. Gai, how about a demonstration?"

Gai moved to a boulder and hit it normally, the boulder simple broke apart. Gai then hit Naruto in the gut with the same force, and Naruto didn't even bat an eyelash. "That is the physical conditioning that it will give you, but you have to keep this in mind, if it is not a fight for life or death, pretend to be hurt and use the minor genjutsus that we will teach you to show the effects, later it will become second nature to you."

The next month saw the three students learning the technique and then learning the second nature genjutsus for damaged bodies. After learning these steps, the spars between the different people began to increase in power and speed. Lee learned the speed technique easily after all of the work with the initial lotus and then all three students were on par for chi techniques. They spent the last week of that month learning to use both techniques effectively.

-- Months Four, Five, and Six --

This month saw the genins doing more mental exercises preparing them for the work of spell in the coming months. Most of the mental exercises were starting to get easier for everyone. The strategy games on the other hand were getting harder. They moved from simple western chess to go, shogi, and even a three dimensional chess and shogi that Hikaru introduced them to. After a month, they were ready for the next level of spells.

Rock Lee turned out to be as proficient with the spells as both Sasuke and Hinata were. Lee mainly focused more on the shamanistic magic, like Hinata, while Sasuke and Naruto focused on Sorcery. Hinata also studied more on the white and healing magic as well knowing that they would come in handy for the team. The over all progress of all four genins was nothing short of a miracle. All four of them would be able to pass the chunnin exams without any problems what so ever. The fact that they could probably pass the jounin exam if they continued to increase their abilities as they were was something that made Gai and Kakashi hold them back.

-- Last Six Months --

The last six months of training for the three genin was spent honing the skills they now possessed to perfection. All four genin were able to use each and every spell they knew with the names only, and Naruto had even managed to be able to use a few spells with the name. Although using the spell without the name gave the spells a drastic reduction in power, it made them even better since he could perform them from out of sight and remain hidden since he didn't have to speak.

Hinata became a very proficient medic. The scrolls in the library were all written by a Konoha medic-nin that is known as the Legendary Sannin Tsunade. With the aid of the scrolls, she could become a medic-nin once she passed the chunnin exams. Lee became a force to be reckoned with. His speed and power far outstripped the other three genin, and he was to the point of using his spells with the same level of control as Sasuke. Both of them still over used mana to charge their spells, but the over use had been dropping steadily. Sasuke became a virtual library of ninjutsu from his tutoring from Kakashi and the use of his Sharingan. He mastered the Sharingan to the point of having all three pinwheels. He had obtained the mastery that is needed to further predict the movements of a person. It is because of this improvement that Sasuke is able to keep up with Lee in standard spars. If he was not using the Sharingan, then he would not last nearly as long as Lee. The other major problem with this is that Sasuke had come to rely more on the Sharingan than anything else. He would always use it in fights. Kakashi tried to get him past this, but it was still a problem for him.

Naruto was the one that outshines them all. Because of his previous experience and knowledge, he was able to improve faster and farther than anyone else. He started to go further in his study of seals. Using the library to study the making of seals and a little help form Kyuubi and Hikaru, he was able to create spell scrolls, and spell wards. These would allow anyone who knew the name of the spell the use the spell as if they had cast the spell with the full incantation. Unfortunately, just like explosive tags, once used, the scrolls and ward were useless and burned away. After further study of the seals for the training room and the seals that Kyuubi taught him, he was able to make the gravity seal into a tattoo for all four of the genin and the two jounin. With the seals in place, Lee and Gai didn't have to wear their weights. And all of them would constantly improve their physical conditioning.

It was near the end of the year that Hinata noticed that they hadn't aged at all. When she brought this up, Naruto had told them that it was because of the seals of the house. That is also the reason that the house has to recharge for a week before it can be used again and a person can only use the house once a month. The finished packing their things and went to the door so that they could rejoin the world of the ninja.

-- Outside the training house the next day --

The Hokage was waiting for the door to open to remind everyone that mentioning the house to anyone will result in a severe punishment. Waiting next to the Hokage was Haku who was waiting to speak to the genin team about their experience. Haku had been told a little about the training house and wanted to see them when they got out. It was only a few more minutes before the door opened and everyone stepped out of the house.

"Ah, it is good to see that everyone is healthy and doing fine. Tell me, how do you feel about the training house and did you enjoy your time inside?" asked the Hokage to the group coming out of the house.

"IT IS A WODERFUL PLACE TO TRAIN AND BRING FORTH OUR YOUTHFUL SPIRIT AND LEARN TO HARNESS THAT POWER. THANK YOU HOKAGE-SAMA FOR ALLOWING US THE USE OF THIS HOUSE!" Lee answered enthusiastically as usual. Sasuke and Naruto were currently ringing out their ears with their pinkies after hearing Lee's shout of passion.

"Well, what about the rest of you?"

"It was a good chance to try a different things and learn some new techniques as usual Hokage-sama. Thank you again for allowing my team to use the house." Naruto answered for his team. Kakashi and Gai merely gave a nod agreeing with both Lee and Naruto.

"Do you think we will be able to use the house again in the future Hokage-sama?" asked Sasuke looking forward to being able to increase his powers that much faster. Within a year of using the house once a month, he would able to face his brother and finally be rid of the past and look to the future.

"That all depends on you. The house is used mostly for the ANBU and jounin. I might be able to make an exception if you are able to pass the chunnin exam. That will be the only way. The house is a double edged sword I am afraid, Naruto himself has said as much. That is why we have the training house set up the way we do."

Sasuke knew he would be able to pass the genin exam so it wouldn't be an issue. Hinata looked over and saw Haku and went over to her.

"How are you doing Haku-chan?"

"I am doing alright, I hear that you and Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun had a chance to use this house, although I am not sure exactly what this house is used for."

"The house is used for advanced training. I was wondering, would you be willing to help train me in private for the chunnin exam?" Hinata asked.

"What kind of training do you want me to teach you?"

"I have learned different things about being a medic-nin and I know that you use senbon as thrown weapons to attack pressure points. I was wondering if you would be able to teach me the how to do the same."

"I think I might be able to teach you a few of the pressure points, it all depends on how well your throwing skills are and how quickly you pick up using the senbon."

While Hinata and Haku were talking, Naruto and Sasuke went ahead and left for their respective homes. After a good meal and bath, Naruto started to talk to Iruka about the things they had done inside the training house. Kakashi came in a few hours later and the three of them talked till Naruto fell asleep in his chair. Iruka picked up Naruto and took him to his room.

-- One week later --

Naruto was playing with Konohamaru and his friends Moegi and Udon. The three kids were running away from Naruto when Konohamaru ran into a nin wearing a black jumpsuit with something wrapped up on his back. The nin grabbed Konohamaru and lifted him off his feet. Once they were eye level he said, "Hey watch where you are going gaki. I think I should teach you a lesson about that."

"Kankurou, stop this." said the kunoichi next to him. She was wearing a black tank top with a fishnet shirt over the tank top, a light white jacket and a dark blue skirt. He had a giant fan strapped to her back.

"Relax, I am just going to teach him a lesson. Maybe by breaking his fingers, he will learn to watch where he is going." Kankurou went to take the kids hand when the kid turned into a log.

"I really don't think you want to be doing that." the voice came from an alley next to them. When they turned to look at the person who talked, there was a boy in a black ninja uniform with Konohamaru standing next to him. "It would be a real shame for you to be put in prison for assaulting a citizen of Konoha and the grandson of our Hokage. Then you and your team wouldn't be able to participate in the chunnin exams now would you?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Kankurou asked getting ready to use the thing strapped to his back.

"Me, I am a genin who is going to be taking the chunnin exam as well. I am also a good friend of the Hokage and his grandson. By the way, I don't suggest using that puppet of yours, it will only get trashed."

"What are you, one of those Hyuuga?"

"Ha, nothing of the sort, I am just good at observation. I know that you have fine chakra control which means that you use chakra strings. Using chakra strings and the large package on your back means it is a puppet. I have no wish to fight you and would you please call your other teammate down out of the tree."

Kankurou and Temari shared a look between them before Gaara teleported right next to them.

"Nice to see you in person. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, may I have the pleasure of your names?"

"Sabaku no Gaara, this is my brother Sabaku no Kankurou, and our sister, Sabaku no Temari." Gaara replied. He flinched as Shukaku started talking to him as his mother again.

Naruto noticed this and decided to make an attempt at making a friend. He walked over to Gaara and whispered into his ear, "if Shukaku is giving you problems, there are those of us in Konoha that know how to deal with him. If you are interested, read this scroll." Naruto finished his message and handed the stunned Gaara a scroll. After handing the scroll over, Naruto turned around and left.

"What did he say Gaara?" asked Temari

"That is for me to know for now. Come we have things that must be done. Kankurou, if you step out of line again, I will not hesitate to put you back into place."

Kankurou gulped and sweated knowing exactly what Gaara was capable of. Later that night, Gaara sat alone on the roof of the hotel the Sand siblings were staying at and opened to scroll. It read.

_Gaara,_

_I know what it is like to have a demon that you can't control. I have a way to seal the demon Shukaku away from your mind. The choice will_ _be yours, but it does have a price. As a sign of good faith, during the chunnin exam, you are to avoid all leaf nin teams and if you have to fight a leaf nin, you can't kill or permanently injure them. That is the starting price, and a show of good faith. We will meet after the second part of the exam._

_Naruto, Kyuubi no Kitsune no Jinchuuriki_

Gaara closed the scroll and used his sand to turn it to dust. He would try and do as asked, if only for a chance to be free of Shukaku. Time would tell if he would be free or not.

-- One week later / Konoha Academy --

Sasuke, Hinata, and Naruto met up outside the academy. Nodding to each other, they went inside and prepared to face their future.

End Chapter

Author Notes:

Well this is slightly longer and I know I could have had more of the interactions between the genin and gone hog wild with the antics from Gai and Lee training. I felt it would detract from the main purpose of the story if I put too much into this chapter and give away too much at the same time. For those of you Naru/Hina fans, don't worry, things are not always as they seem. I have several plans for future chapters that I have already got in outline format that will explain even more. Next chapter is going to be the first part of the chunnin exams. I will say this much, the chunnin exam is going to be broken into four chapters and the chapter layout is going to be as follows: First Exam, and Second Exam next chapter; Preliminaries all in the following chapter; month long training in the follow up; and finally the main events with the chapter ending with the final attack of the Sound, but the attack will be a lot different I will say that much. Because of what is going to be happening in the next chapter, it may take another week or two to edit that chapter. It is written and just needs the final touch ups to make it work right. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Ja ne

Dark Knight: The LightHawk


	11. Chapter 11

Starting Over  
Chapter 11  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Ranma, or Slayers

-- Konoha Ninja Academy --

Team seven was outside the academy getting ready to enter and take the chunnin exam. Looking to each other nodding, they were mentally getting themselves ready. Naruto looked to Sasuke and Hinata and said, "No matter what happens, don't quit. Hide what you can and stay in the background. When we run into the others, tell them to stay quite and avoid a man named Kabuto. I heard from some old contacts back when I was working for the Hokage. They say that he may be a spy so no names, no abilities, and no talking to him, make sure everyone else knows this as well."

Both gave a nod before moving into the academy. Walking up to the second floor, they saw a bunch of genin trying to get inside a room. Looking at the room number, they saw that it said 301, a second later the 3 changed to a 2. They realized where they were and from their mental training they knew that this wasn't the third floor. They walked past the door in the shadows and headed for the stairs. On the way, they met up with Lee.

"YOSH, You finally came."

"Yes Lee, we're here, and just so you know, there are things going on at this exam that are not quite right." Lee gave Naruto a confused glance. "For one, lose the loudness and focus on the training we did. Second, if you meet anyone named Kabuto, don't use names and stay away from him. Let your teammates know that he is a possible spy." Naruto said the Lee with a serious expression on his face.

Lee demeanor did a one eighty and he became just as serious as Naruto. "I understand and will inform them as well. Is there anything else I need to know?"

"That is it so far, also watch out for anyone from the Sand village. I have a feeling that things could get messy around them, but if you do get into a tangle with them, let them know that you are a leaf nin." Naruto said as he turned to his team and started to walk away.

"What good will that do Naruto-kun?" Lee asked with a perplexed expression on his face.

"You never know until you try." Naruto said over his shoulder as he walked into the room with Hinata and Sasuke at his side.

When they walked into the room, the crowd turned to look at them. Sasuke and Hinata immediately felt what Naruto was talking about when it came to the atmosphere of the exam. The tension was think enough to cut with a kunai. Almost as soon as they entered, Sasuke was jumped from two different directions by two kunoichi.

"Sakura, Ino, get off me, NOW!" Sasuke screamed the last part as both kunoichi got off Sasuke with a slight bit of fear in their eyes. Sasuke left to go to the corner with both Ino and Sakura following him. Naruto looked at the sight and sighed. Hinata took his arm and lead him over to the other genin from their year. As they made some small talk about what was going on, Kabuto came over to them.

"Hi, my name is Yahushi Kabuto, who are you?" Naruto got a sour look on his face and turned to Kabuto.

"You are not worthy to know my name or that of my friends."

Kabuto looked shocked. How dare this upstart genin talk to him like that. "Why do you say that?"

"Simple, I don't want any of my friends to associate with someone who failed this chunnin exam seven times, but not because it was to tough, but because he QUIT!" Naruto snarled.

Kabuto took a step back and said, "And how would you know this?"

"Simple, I have friends in administration that gave me a heads up on each of the chunnin and jounin exams. I remember your name sticking out since you quit every time before you even have a chance for promotion. Let's leave this loser guys." Naruto and the others turn their backs to Kabuto and go over to the others.

Kabuto stands there fuming and was about to do something about it when the first Examiner comes in.

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN UP! My name is Morino Ibiki. I am the lead examiner for this test. Each of you will come forward and take a number. You will then sit in your assigned seat and wait for further instructions."

It took a few minutes for everyone to get their number and seated. Noticeably, no one was seated within five chairs in any direction of their teammates. "Now these are the rules for this exam. There are ten questions on this exam. Unlike most exams though, you start with a perfect score. For every answer you get wrong you lose one point. If you cheat, and don't think we won't know, you will lose two points. If your points are reduced to zero, you and your team is disqualified and will be removed from this exam. The final question is a verbal question that will be given forty-five minutes after the exam has begun. Now, turn over your exam papers and begin."

The exam started and so did the cheating. Hinata used her Byakugan to get the answers from people within her range, the same as Neji. Both of them using a genjutsu to hide their veins from being seen and giving away what they were doing. Ino used her Shintenshin no Jutsu to enter another person, memorize the answers and then used the same skill to write the answers for herself and then did the same for Choji and Shikamaru as well. Sakura used her intelligence to answer the questions, although they were very difficult even for her. Naruto used a technique Kyuubi taught him. The Youkai no Me (Eyes of the Demon) to see the entire classroom and get the answers he needed.

Throughout the entire exam different examiners that were watching the genin would throw kunai at the desks of several students and say their number followed by fail. After thirty minutes of the exam, of the original sixty teams, only forty were left. Ibiki took a moment to look over the crowd and looked at the clock. It was time for the final question.

"It has now been forty-five minutes since the start of this exam. I will now give the final question, but before giving the final question, there are a few new rules. First you can choose if you wish to take this question or not."

"What do you mean by we can choose to take this question?" asked Temari

"It is simple you don't have to answer this question, but if you choose not to take the question, you will forfeit all of your points and you and your team will fail."

"Well if that is the choice, then I will take the question," said Kiba

"Ah, but I am not done yet, if you take the question and fail to answer the question, then you will forfeit the privilege to ever take the chunnin exam again, in other words you will remain a genin forever. That is your choice. Those who don't wish to answer the question, raise your hands and you and your team will be failed and you can try again next year."

Shock was predominately seen on the faces of many of the genin. Slowly several people raised their hands. Them and their teammates were failed and left the area. After a few more minutes of people raising their hands and quitting, Ibiki looked over those left and said, "Is there anyone else?" Not getting a response, he nodded and then said, "then everyone here passes, Congratulations."

"WHAT!" Temari screamed while standing, "What about the tenth question?"

"There was no tenth question, unless you count the choice of taking the question. The point of this exam was to see if you had what it takes to go for the mission with an all or nothing attitude. That attitude is what is needed to be a chunnin." answered Ibiki.

"Then what were the other nine questions for?" asked Kiba.

"The questions for the exam were questions far above most genin, as such, the only way for you to answer those questions was to be very intelligent, or cheat. It was a test of your ability to gather information. We had several chunnin shinobi in the room for you to get the proper answers from. Those who couldn't get the information without getting caught, failed." Ibiki took his forehead protecter and bandana off his head to show the scars across his head. "If you are caught on a mission to gather information, then you will get the wrong information, or possible tortured for information. This is the price you will pay for failure. Your entire team will be relying on each other, that is why if one fails, you all fail. Now . . ." Ibiki didn't get to finish his thoughts as someone burst through the window. A woman landed in front of Ibiki and opened her trench coat showing off her form and attire.

"Twenty-six teams, Ibiki are you losing your touch?" the woman asked.

"No, there are just a lot of gifted genin this year." he replied.

"Well, I will just cut their numbers in at least half. My name is Mitarashi Anko. I will be your examiner for the second test. Everyone has one hour to meet at training area 44. Dismissed."

Several of of genin were talking amongst themselves as they left the building. Everyone moved to the training area and with fifty minutes, everyone was there waiting for Anko to show up. After a few minutes more of waiting, Anko showed up and gathered everyone near the tent.

"Welcome everyone to training area 44, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. Here you will be in team competition again. I will hand everyone wavers that your entire team must sign and then hand in for one of these two scrolls." Anko held up both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll. "Once you have your scroll, your team will be escorted by a chunnin to once of the gates. When the gates open, you will be inside the forest for the next five days. You have to collect the other scroll form a team and then with both scrolls enter the tower in the center of the forest. You cannot enter the tower without both scrolls. If someone opens their scroll before they get to the tower, well, let's just say you won't like the consequences. Now I will hand out the permission forms and then one of your teams will come and collect the team scrolls." Anko finished.

"What are the wavers for?" asked one of the genin.

"There is a possiblity of death in this exam and I don't want anyone coming after me. The wavers remove Konoha and myself from the liablity of your deaths in this exam."

Naruto knew he would have to say something to get people's attention. "Yeah, right, this is going to be the easiest test ever." Naruto barely moved his head to the side to dodge the kunai Anko had thrown and then he had a kunai at his throat with Anko at his back.

"You should be careful what you say genin, you never know when it will be your time." Anko said with a smile. Suddenly she pulled another kunai and had it pointed at a grass genin with a long tongue. "You shouldn't try to sneak up on me, you wouldn't like the consequences."

"I'm sorry, you just got me so excited when you cut my hair, I thought I would return your kunai." the grass genin said.

"Well thank you, but I think it is about time for you to return to your team before I have you disqualified."

The grass genin left and Naruto nodded to Anko. Sasuke, Hinata, and Naruto filled out their forms and Naruto turned them in getting a Heaven scroll. They followed their chunnin guide to their gate and waited. Finally after almost twenty minutes, the gates were opened and the team left. After running for ten minutes, they stopped in the canopy of the forest.

"Alright, we have two choices, we can go looking for teams and check for scrolls, or we can go to the tower and set up an ambush. But before we do any of that, we need a code for if we get separated."

"What do you have in mind Naruto?" asked Sasuke.

"Well, how about we use ramen in a sentence. And follow the sentence with a question about the weather, or training."

"Interesting idea, that might work, but instead of ramen, how about any simple food." Hinata replied.

"That will work, so now which do we do?" Naruto asked.

"I say we head for the tower and if we run across another team, steal theirs before they know about it, and if we don't run across another team, set up an ambush," said Sasuke.

"That works, so let's go."

Team seven made their way through the forest. After about thirty minutes of pure running, they came to two groups fighting each other. Naruto looked to Sasuke and Hinata. "I will grab the scroll while they are worried about each other and meet you two on the other side of the clearing in a few minutes."

"Right, see you there, and Hinata will use her Byakugan to see if you get into trouble, if so we are going to help you out." said Sasuke as he and Hinata went off around the clearing's edge.

"This is going to be fun!"

-- Other side of the clearing --

Sasuke and Hinata made it to the rendezvous point and waited for Naruto, once they reached the spot Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked over to the clearing waiting for Naruto to make his move. Suddenly Sasuke felt something coming and tackled Hinata out of the way as a large gust of wind suddenly blew through the area and into the clearing where the other genin were fighting. Sasuke jumped to his feet seeing the grass genin from before standing on the tree in front of them.

"Well Sasuke-kun, it seems as though you have had a great deal of training to hone your reflexes. I am glad. Now shall we fight over my scroll?" The grass genin took out an Earth scroll and swallowed it whole. "Now it will be a fight to the death, you if want the scroll." The grass genin smiled before jumping down from the tree he was in. On his way to the ground he started to make a series of handseals and when he reached the ground, he called his technique, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

Out of the smoke rose a giant snake. The snake started racing toward Hinata and Sasuke. Sasuke lost control for a minute due to shock, and was about to be eaten when the snake suddenly stopped. It stopped because Naruto was in the way of the snake and had stopped it with a kunai in each hand.

"Hey Sasuke, you going to wake up and help, or are Hinata and I the only ones going to be fighting?" he asked.

Sasuke looked to his side and saw that Hinata had gotten up and into a fighting stance herself. Sasuke smirked and said, "Sure, move a second will you?" Naruto jumped out of the way and Sasuke fired off his spell, "FIREBALL!" Sasuke's affinity with fire jutsus made his fireball a lot more powerful than normal. The fireball hit the snake and caused it to explode into smoke destroying the summoned snake.

The grass genin looked shocked for a second before gaining a maniacal gleam in his eye. "Sasuke-kun, you have indeed grown strong, however, I can make you even stronger!" The grass genin removed his face and the three genin saw that it was actually Orochimaru. "I am Orochimaru and I can give you power beyond your wildest imagination. Come with me Sasuke-kun and together we will be stronger than anyone else. I can give you the power to kill your brother who murdered your entire clan!"

Sasuke was steadily getting more and more mad. He saw the face and heard the name. He knew that Itachi didn't kill the clan, he knew it was Orochimaru that had done the deed in the guise of Itachi. As he heard that last line he had heard enough talk and was ready for action. Looking to Naruto and Hinata, "Guys, I think it is about time to show this ASSHOLE who he is MESSING WITH **KAI!"** As Sasuke made his seal and released the gravity seal Naruto had given each of them. Hinata did the same while Naruto had already removed his seal for the speed needed to steal the scroll form the two fighting teams earlier.

Orochimaru began making handseals quickly while dodging a fast moving Sasuke as he tried several punch and kick combinations. Once he finished his seals he called out his technique, "Fuuton Kuuhazan (Wind Air Wave Slash)!" A wave a solid air moved and sliced at Sasuke. He received a small gash on his arm. Unfortunately while Sasuke was keeping Orochimaru busy, Naruto set off a lighting spell to signal trouble to the ANBU while running around the clearing setting up spell wards around the clearing.

After Sasuke had been hit, Hinata moved in using gentle fist to keep Orochimaru on the defensive. Striking faster than he was expecting allowed her to close a few of his tenketsus in his left arm and leg before he moved even further out of range and ran quickly through the handseals for his next attack. "Doton Doryudan!" A dragon's head made of mud rose from the ground and then started firing off mud missiles from its mouth. The missiles streaked towards Hinata. Hinata using her speed was able to dodge the missiles, but they set her up for his follow up attack with his sword. Hinata was stabbed in the side, although it was not a deep wound, it served its purpose since the blade was poisoned.

"I would give you about an hour before you are dead. Now stay down like a good whipped girl and let us men do the fighting." Orochimaru sneered. Anything else he was going to say never came out due to a rather painful meeting of his head with Naruto's foot. The spin kick that Naruto threw also allowed him the chance to tag Orochimaru with one of his spell wards. When Orochimaru recovered and gave a hard glare at Naruto, he saw Naruto smirking.

"I have one thing to say to you Orochimaru, BOOM!" Once that was said,the spell ward on Orochimaru's back exploded sending him tumbling into the intricate pattern of wards that Naruto laid out throughout the fight. Orochimaru was constantly hit with explosions of different elements before landing in front of Naruto who was just finishing his spell.

"MAY THE FOOLS WHO STAND BEFORE US BE DESTROYED BY THE POWER THAT YOU AND I POSSESS. **DRAGON SLAVE**!" As Naruto finished his spell, he used a few wards to help contain and focus the spell to keep from destroying the whole forest. Orochimaru got hit with the full force of the Dragon Slave at point blank range. His screams of agony were heard throughout the forest. Once the spell was finished, Orochimaru was missing his left arm and had severe burns all over his body.

Naruto was shocked, how did he survive. He had little time to ponder this as Orochimaru suddenly moved forward holding out his hand with five purple glowing points, one on each finger. Ramming his hand into Naruto he screams, "Gogyou Fuuin (Five Element Seal)!" Naruto screamed in pain when the technique hit him. "Now I will kill you Kyuubi Gaki!"

Before he could finish his threat, Sasuke came back and used his own latest spell that Hikaru had taught him. "Gaav Flare!" The spell struck Orochimaru in the back causing him to miss Naruto with the kunai he had pulled out.

"Sasuke, you will pay the ultimate price for striking me, I had such high hopes for you, but I think I will have change my plans and just kill you now." Orochimaru ran toward Sasuke who was close to passing out from using so much mana at once. Sasuke was saved when Orochimaru's path was blocked by a squad of ANBU.

"Orochimaru, s-class nuke-nin. You have charged with crimes to numerous to mention. You have been sentenced to death and we are here to carry it out." said the lead ANBU in a dog mask.

"You have been reprieved, but I will come for you Uchiha Sasuke, I will come for you." said Orochimaru as he was attacked by one of the ANBU. When the attack landed, Orochimaru turned to mud.

"KUSO! He . . got . . . away." Sasuke slowly said as he passed out. Naruto crawled over to Hinata who was fighting to stay conscious. Once he made it to her, he held her hand.

"Hinata-chan, I am sorry I was late, but hold on, I have just the thing to help." he said in a quite voice. Sitting up, he gathered his mana together for two spells. "Dicleary! That should remove the poison. And now for you. Blessed humble hand of Kami-sama, Breath and life of Mother Earth, I pray thee come before me. Show your great compassion to this person and deliver them! Recovery!" Once said, the spell took its effect and surround the barely conscious Hinata with a rainbow of colors lifting her off the ground. Slowly all of her bruises and the major cuts on her body healed to perfect health. "Thank you . . . Kami . . . sama." Naruto passed out after finishing the spell. The ANBU collected the three genin and the bag that Naruto was carrying. Looking inside, they found both scrolls needed for entrance into the tower. The ANBU carried all three to the tower for medical attention and to see the Hokage.

-- Tower Infirmary --

Hinata had recovered a few minutes after arriving at the tower. She stayed beside Naruto and Sasuke in the infirmary until Sasuke had awoken. They had talked and informed the Hokage about what had happened in the forest. The Hokage took their report of the incident and let them return to the infirmary. It has been two days since they arrived and Naruto still hasn't woken up. Sasuke left the infirmary to train and rest in their room. Other teams had made it in and Kiba had come to see her in the infirmary. Kiba started laughing over the fact that Naruto was laid up until Hinata snapped at him and told him about what had happened in the forest. Kiba took the news with shock, not just about what had happened, but also the fact that Hinata had snapped at him.

On their third day of being in the tower, Hinata was sitting next to Naruto when he finally woke up. Slowly shifting around and coming to, he heard a voice next to him.

"N-Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Hinata asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah, . . . where are we?" He asked starting to sit up.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata screamed as she lunged forward grabbing Naruto in a bone crushing hug while sobbing into his shoulder. "I didn't know what happened to you, or if you were ever going to wake up." Hinata sobbed out.

Naruto put his arms around her and slowly tried to rock them both whispering soothing words quietly in her ear while rubbing her back. Even though he was healed, he was still soar and he knew his chakra was not mixing like it should. "I'm okay now. Where are we?"

Hinata sat up on his bed pulling away from the hug and looked Naruto in the face. "The ANBU came right after you used the Dragon Slave on Orochimaru. They brought us here, to the tower in the middle of the forest. Since we had both scrolls already, we are allowed to continue with the exam even though we didn't make it to the tower under our own power. Sasuke woke up two days ago and has been in and out of here training and sitting with you."

"Hinata-chan, have you even left here to eat?" Naruto asked with worry in his voice.

"I have been here the whole time watching over you. Sasuke has been bringing me something to eat every time he comes to visit." she said with a slight blush on her face. Naruto smiled at then and then stretched out.

"I think it is about time to go ahead and get out of here. I need to stretch and work on loosening my muscles before the five days is up, but I also need to see the Hokage about what happened." Naruto got up and he and Hinata went to see the Hokage.

After finding the room where the Hokage was and talking to the ANBU stationed at the door, they were allowed to see the Hokage.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, it is good to see you up. I was a little worried about you after hearing what happened in the forest." Sarutobi-sama said looking at the two entering his office.

"Yeah, I am feeling a lot better, but I need some help with something Hokage-sama. Orochimaru put some kind of seal on me over Kyuubi's seal, and it affecting the way I mold chakra." Naruto said as he pulled up his shirt and channeled some chakra into his stomach to make the seal visible. Hinata looked over and saw Naruto's shirt raised and nearly fainted at the sight. She had a face so red with embarrassment, she could rival a tomato. The Hokage had to stifle a laugh at the look on Hinata's face, and then he saw what Naruto was talking about. Orochimaru put a Five Element Seal on Naruto and it was interfering with the Yondaime's seal.

"I see, I can do the unsealing, but it will hurt for a minute. Are you ready?" Getting a nod from Naruto, Sarutobi-sama performed the seals and then said, "Gogyou Kaiin (Five Element Unsealer)!" Ramming his hand into Naruto's stomach just like Orochimaru did, Naruto bit back a scream of pain before he started to feel the affects of the seal removed and his chakra started mixing again like it should.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I really appreciate it. Now if you will excuse me, I need to do some training to work out the kinks to my chakra control." Naruto said.

"Of course, have a good day and good luck in the rest of the exam."

Naruto and Hinata left for the training room. When Naruto and Hinata reached the training room, they found Sasuke hard at work training his taijutsu. Naruto walked over and called out, "Hey Sasuke, nice to see you up and around."

Sasuke stopped mid punch and turned to the voice. Seeing Naruto he smiled and said, "Same to you. About time you got off your lazy ass. So you ready to train?"

"Sure, but let's do this a little differently, Hinata-chan watch the door and let us know if someone is coming, please."

"Sure Naruto-kun." Hinata said and gave him a quick hug before going over to the door.

"OK, this is how we are going to do this. While we are clear of everyone, we are going to spar with taijutsu on the ceiling so that we both can practice chakra control. When Hinata-chan says someone is coming, drop to the floor and continue sparring. That way we can keep our skills up and also keep them a secret.

"Sure, let's do this."

Both of them jumped up to the wall and then to the ceiling where they started sparring. They sparred that way for the better part of the day with the occasional interruption from one of the other genin looking for a training room. Naruto then had Sasuke trade off with Hinata so the two of them could spar the same way. Since Naruto has a higher chakra capacity then the other two, he was able to spar the same amount of time with Hinata as he did with Sasuke. After sparring with the both of them, they went to grab a bite to eat and then went to their room for the night.

The next day saw the last day of the second exam. Everyone gathered in the main arena for the end of the second exam. There were 12 teams left of the original twenty-six. They were gathered and lined up in the middle of the arena. Once everyone was gathered together Anko stepped forward to address the crowd.

"Welcome to the end of the second exam. I congratulate the group here for passing the second exam. I would like to present the Sandaime Hokage." Anko stepped back and bowed to the Hokage who stepped forward to address everyone there.

"I would also like to extend my congratulations to everyone for making it this far. For those of you who haven't participated in the chunnin exams before, allow me to give you a brief overview of the exam and what it represents. Before the set up of the rotating chunnin exams, the different Kage's of the different hidden villages would promote their genins to chunnin when they felt the nin would be able to handle to responsibility. Thus lead to the unfortunate deaths of many nins. In order to prevent more senseless deaths, the Kage's from ever village came together and created the inter village chunnin exams. The exams serve a further purpose. They allow each village to show their strength against other villages. The chunnin exams became a substitute for war. Now before we get to the main event . . ."

"Pardon the interruption Hokage-sama, but allow me to explain the rest of the exam." Interrupted a jounin.

"Of course, be my guest."

"Thank you, 'cough, cough'. My name is Gekkou Hayate, before we begin, I would like to know if there is anyone who wishes to remove themselves from the exam,'cough, cough', since from now on, it is an individual exam and not a team exam."

Ino looked over to Sakura and asked, "Don't you think he should remove himself since he doesn't look good?" Sakura just shrugged her shoulders and looked back forward.

"I will say this one more time, if there is anyone that wishes to remove themselves, they may do so since it will not affect their teams. 'cough, cough' The final exam is a one on one tournament, but before we can have the tournament, we will have to have preliminary matches."

"Hayate-san, why are we having preliminary matches? Why can't we all just participate in the final exam?" asked Temari.

"The reason being is that delegates, dignitaries, and other potential clients with very busy schedules come to watch the chunnin exams since it showcases the talents of each of the Hidden Villages. 'cough, cough' We can only have a certain number of participates to keep the final exam short for those who attend from far away. Now you have five minutes to decide if you are still willing to participate in the preliminaries and final exam."

Most of the genin milled around for a minute before other quit due to injuries and other things. Kabuto was spotted quitting by Naruto, who pointed it out to Sasuke and Hinata. After five minutes, everyone who remained was moved to the balcony of the arena they were in.

"Now, we will be drawing opponents randomly and they will displayed on the screen behind me." Hayate pointed to the panel behind him that opened up to show an electronic screen that started to display names sifting at random. Suddenly, the names stopped and displayed, 'Uchiha Sasuke Vs Akadou Yoroi'. As both fighters made their way to the arena floor everyone was anticipating an incredible fight.

-- Elsewhere outside of Konoha --

Orochimaru was in pain. He had never before felt this kind of pain. '_How is it that three mere GENIN are able to do this to ME? It shouldn't be possible!_' As he was ranting in his own mind, Kabuto finally showed up to check on his master.

"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto froze after saying that as he saw the damage done to him. "How did this happen, were you attacked by the jounin monitoring the exam?"

"No you fool, this," Orochimaru swept his one good arm over his body, "all of this was done by a single team of GENIN! How is this possible? What have you found out?"

Kabuto couldn't believe his ears. Orochimaru was beaten to this state by a single team of genin. Konoha must have gotten a lot stronger if a single group could do this. "I am sorry Orochimaru-sama, there was someone who was suspicion of me and kept the others from talking to me. I couldn't find out their groups or abilities since the one suspicious of me kept the others from mentioning their names. It was if he knew how the NIN cards worked.

"It was Sasuke's team that did this to me. Sasuke has gotten a lot stronger, but that is nothing compared to the Kyuubi vessel since he is the one who destroyed my arm. I need you to prepare a new arm for me and attach it soon. I must be ready for the finals. We will take Sasuke then and kill the Kyuubi vessel once and for all."

"As you say Orochimaru-sama, the process will not be easy, and it will be painful, but I can do it."

"Good, once we are ready, we will destroy Konoha once and for all."

Orochimaru's dark laughter could be heard throughout the entire lair they were using. War was coming, and there was nothing that could stop it.

End Chapter

A/N: Well, another chapter finished and posted. I will try and have the next chapter, which is nothing but the preliminary matches up in a few days, a week at the most. I know that some of you are wondering how Orochimaru could survive a Dragon Slave like he did. I have seen it in other fan-fics, were people can use their chakra to shield them to an extent from different jutsus. If others and even genin can do this, then so could Orochimaru, but since the spell is powered by mana and not chakra, the chakra shielding was not enough to stop the attack, thus the loss of his arm. I have a harder time editing the fight scenes since I don't want anyone to seem to over powerful. Some of the matches will be the same as the canon, but others are going to be a whole lot different. See you next time.

Ja ne

DarkKnight: The LightHawk


	12. Chapter 12

Starting Over  
Chapter 12  
Disclaimer: This is just for fun.

Author Notes: To clarify a few things, I have gotten responses about how people can do certain things with Magic like Naruto doing the Dragon Slave and Sasuke doing a Gaav Flare. To start off, I need to do a little explaining about the Slayers world. First there are three basic types of magic. White magic, which draws its power from the golden dragon Ceiphied. Sorcery or Black magic, which draws it strength from the Mazoku or demons, and Shamanistic Magic, which draws its powers from the elemental spirits. Now that you know this much, you need to know about the cosmology. First off, the world of Slayers is part of a staff of worlds. There are four worlds on this staff. One is of course the slayers world. Another world is the world of DarkStar, seen at the end of Slayers Try. One world is the Lost Universe world, and the fourth could be considered our own Earth. For the purposes of my story, the fourth world is Naruto's world. Now since sorcery draws on the Mazoku and White/Holy Magic draws from Ceiphied, then how do they work on another world? Simple, all worlds have parallel beings that do the same job. One possible conclusion that could be drawn is that Kyuubi no Kitsune would take the place of Shabranigdo, and that is possible. I feel that once the spell is created it will draw upon an appropriate source in the different worlds. I hope that this clears up any confusion for you.

On one further note. As I was going back over my own story I noticed a major mistake that I want to get out of the way. One, team eight is the ShikaInoCho team lead by Asuma. Two, team ten is Kiba, Shino, and Sakura lead by Kurenai. Sorry for not noticing sooner.

On with the story!

-- Tower in Training Area 44 --

The electronic board displayed two names for the first fight, 'Uchiha Sasuke Vs Akadou Yoroi'. Both genin stepped down from the balconies and meet in the center of the arena with Hayate standing between them. He raised his hand and said, "First round, Uchiha Sasuke and Akadou Yoroi. Ready, Hajime!"

As soon as Hayate said that, he jumped back to give the two genin room to fight. Sasuke and Yoroi jumped back to give room for movement, but while Yoroi simple jumped back, Sasuke jumped back while loosening a volley of shuriken to cover the beginning of the seals for a technique. Yoroi landed and then jumped to the side avoiding all of the shuriken. Right as he landed again, Sasuke finished his technique calling it out.

"Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Grand Fireball Technique)!"

Fire flew from Sasuke's mouth heading for Yoroi and it nearly hit him before he used a bit of focused chakra into his legs and jumped over the flames heading straight for Sasuke. Once in range, Yoroi struck towards Sasuke's head. The punch connected and sent Sasuke stumbling backwards. While Sasuke was stumbling backwards, Yoroi quickly swept Sasuke's feet and captured Sasuke in a locking hold. Sasuke struggled to get loose, while Yoroi moved his hand to Sasuke's chest. After touching Sasuke's chest, Yoroi activated his bloodline limit. Sasuke screamed for a minute while Yoroi said, "This is my Bloodline Limit, I have the ability to drain the chakra out of your body." Suddenly, the Sasuke he was holding disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Nani?"

"Well, that is one clone down, but how many more before you find the real me?" asked a Sasuke that walked out of the shadows. Then five others walked out of the shadows as well. "Shall we find out if you know which is the real one?" All six Sasukes charged the genin who was just starting to get up. Fighting one Sasuke was hard enough for the genin, fighting six of him was too much, it wasn't long until all of the punch and kick combinations caused Yoroi to fall. Yoroi did manage to take care of three of the clones getting back the chakra he was using to stay up for the time being, but eventually he was over come. Sasuke finished his match with something he developed with the help of Lee, he Shishi Rendan (Lion Combo).

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke," Hayate announced and the board started displaying names at random again. This time the name that appeared were 'Aburame Shino Vs Abume Zaku' "Aburame Shino and Abume Zaku, please come to the arena. Both Shino and Zaku made their way down to the arena floor, Shino passing Sasuke and Sasuke wishing him well. Once the two were in the center, Hayate raised his hand and said, "Round two Aburame Shino Vs Abume Zaku. Ready. Hajime!"

-- Balcony --

Naruto sat with Hinata watching Sasuke's fight. They knew he wouldn't have any trouble with all of the work they had done with each other in the past. Hinata had pulled Naruto back to the back of the balcony so they could sit against the wall and relax before their matches.

"Naruto-kun, do you think we will be able to make it past the preliminaries?" Hinata asked with a look of worry in her eyes.

"Hinata-chan, I know for a fact we can pass. With the training we did before we started this exam, there is no way we won't be able to make it to the finals. I know you have more confidence in you, now is the time to bring it out." Naruto said trying to encourage her. And it was working. Hinata lost the worry and fear in her eyes and then leaned into Naruto circling her arms around him for a hug. Naruto returned the hug like any good brother would.

'_If only I had the courage to tell him how I really feel. I love Naruto-kun so much it hurts. I can at least be happy that he cares for me and soon, hopefully very soon I will be able to tell him how I really feel._' Hinata thought as she lost herself in the hug from Naruto. Hinata was jolted out of her hug when Sasuke sat down next to them.

"Did you enjoy your match Sasuke?" asked Hinata sitting up straight again.

"He had a bloodline that would have made it interesting if he was better at distinguishing between a person and their bushins." Sasuke said with a smirk on his face. He noticed that Hinata was still trying to get Naruto to notice that she liked him as more than a friend but was not having any luck. "So Naruto, what do you think about the competition left?"

"I don't know, I think the Sand Team could hold some surprises. But I wouldn't want to find out the hard way." Naruto finished with a smirk of his own. He still held Hinata in a light embrace that she enjoyed

A few minutes later, Shino's fight was over. Zaku had his arms blown off from the power of his own attack since Shino sent his bugs to clog the holes in his arm. The medic-nins came into the room and took away Zaku while Shino climbed the stairs to the balcony that the Leaf was occupying. Hayate moved forward and waited for the screen to show the next two combatants. Soon the screen showed the participants for the next fight. 'Haruno Sakura Vs Nara Shikamaru' Will Haruno Sakura and Nara Shikamaru please come down for the next match. Both fighters made their way to the floor and stood apart from each other.

"Third Round. Haruno Sakura Vs Nara Shikamaru, ready. Hajime!"

As Hayate moved back, Sakura looked at Shikamaru trying to decide how to handle the lazy nin. Heavy training with Kurenai and the others really helped. She knew that Shikamaru was smart and could probably out maneuver her in the long run. She would need to finish in short order.

Shikamaru on the other hand was still not believing his luck. He just had to get stuck not only fighting a girl, but the rival to his own teammate. He was going to get an earful if he lost to her and an even bigger earful if he hurt her too badly. Shikamaru knew that Ino still cared for Sakura, so he would have to be very careful in how he dealt with the kunoichi in front of him. Deciding to go for tiring her out in a long drawn out match would be the best.

Sakura just finished channeling the chakra she would need for her plan, when Shikamaru suddenly jumped back. Already committed to her plan she suddenly dumped more into her legs and took off for a devastating punch to knock out Shikamaru. Unfortunately, he was further back and the extra chakra was not enough. Shikamaru leaned back and avoided the punch, while delivering his own counter punch successfully to her stomach and jumped back for more room.

Sakura shook herself out of her shock and then tried to set up of the genjutsus that Kurenai had taught her. Running through the six handseals required for the genjutsu to work she finished activating and called out the technique, "Bakkyou Kara Kokoronouichi (remove from One's Mind)!" To Shikamaru, Sakura just faded out of existence. To everyone else, nothing happened. Sakura quickly moved behind Shikamaru to keep him from sensing her if she failed the technique. To everyone else, nothing happened other than Sakura saying the technique and then moving behind Shikamaru. Ino and Choji sat there stunned that Shikamaru wasn't doing anything.

Shikamaru suddenly realized he was in a genjutsu, but he knew he couldn't simple dispel it with a Kai (Release). He needed something to help, and then he thought of it. Jumping up and then running around the arena, he slowly let the water from his canteen drip onto the floor. Creating small patches of water everywhere. He stopped running and took up a place next to the wall, with his back to it.

Everyone was stunned and didn't know what Shikamaru was doing. Sakura thought he had lost his mind until she stepped into a small puddle and Shikamaru threw a shuriken at her nearly hitting her. She now knew his plan, and she would be caught. Moving faster and using jumps to help with the random pattern of movement, Sakura almost had Shikamaru in position for the final attack when she stopped and couldn't move.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu. Success." announced Shikamaru as Sakura became visible to him. "You have fought a good match Sakura, but you no longer have any chance of winning. Please forfeit before I have to hurt you."

Sakura sighed and then looked to Hayate with her eyes and then said, "I quit I can't win."

"Winner Nara Shikamaru."

Both combatants went back to the top of the the balcony. Kiba tried to help cheer up Sakura, but didn't have much luck. The electronic boards started moving again and the genins grew nervous waiting for the next fight. The board finally stopped and the next two started making their way down to the arena floor. Once both fighters where in position, Hayate raised his hand.

"Fourth Match Kin Tsuchi Vs Hyuuga Neji. Ready, Hajime."

Hayate jumped back as Tsuchi readied her senbon. Neji stood confidently and looked the girl over. Activating his Byakugan, he began to notice things about the girl in front of him.

"If I were you, I would quit before getting myself hurt. I can tell from your eyes that you have some confidence, but you have never gone up against the power of the Byakugan. My Bloodline allows me to see and interpret every single move you make. For instance the fact that you hold a senbon with a bell and you are from the sound villages alludes to the fact that you will use the bell as a means of using some form of jutsu. This is also supported by the fact that your teammate also uses a device that focuses sound. Since I am prepared for this, you will have to use something elsTsuchi just looked at Neji with an even look while thinking, '_Kuso, he has figured out part of it just by knowing about Dosu. He knows that part of it but he doesn't know that this is a genjutsu. If I can get it off then things will be easier._' Tsuchi then threw the senbon and watched as Neji barely moved his head for the needle weapon just miss him. She smirked and pulled the wire to activate the sound based genjutsu.

Neji started to feel something different with the ringing of the bell. For a moment, things looked different, and then he saw that it was a genjutsu attempt. Focusing on his Byakugan, he saw through it and then sent a kunai directly at Tsuchi causing her to dodge and release the string. "As I said before, you have no chance, and since you have decided to attack anyway, I will now show you the error of your ways."

As Tsuchi gathered herself again, Neji moved forward and began a series of quick attacks closing the tenketsus on both her arms. After the last tenketsu on her arm was closed, he backed off to give her one more chance to surrender. Tsuchi say the situation she was in and cursed to herself. She had one thing left to try and then she would be out of options. She pulled out two handfuls of senbon and sent them at Neji trying for anything. Neji saw each and everyone of them coming and collected them easily. After collecting them in mid flight, he sent them back at her even faster than she had thrown them herself. The senbon did nothing but irritate Tsuchi since Neji wasn't proficient with them, but that was enough as he moved in for the finish.

"This is your last moment in this exam." Neji said before closing all but one of the tenketsus around her heart. A moment later Tsuchi passed out.

"Winner Hyuuga Neji. Medic-nins to the floor." Hayate said making sure that Tsuchi was still alive.

Neji left the floor while the medic-nins came in to help the girl. One of the medic-nins was a Hyuuga branch member that re-opened each of her tenketsus before moving her to a stretcher and out of the arena. The electronic board started going through names again and stopped on the next fighters.

"Will the next fighters please come to the arena floor." Hayate said watching as the Hyuuga children passed each other and speak briefly. Hinata then made her way down the stairs to stand opposite of Yamanaka Ino.

"Fifth Match Hyuuga Hinata Vs Yamanaka Ino. Ready, Hajime!"

Hinata wasted little time before moving in to quickly close off every non-lethal tenketsu in Ino's chest and arms. Ino couldn't even stand after the viscous attack by Hinata.

"Hayate-san, I believe the match is over since Ino will not be able to continue any time soon."

Most of the people were just looking at Hinata with looks of disbelief. There is no way that the shy and innocent Hyuuga Hinata could sit there and completely decimated one of the top two kunoichi after a mere six months of training. Hayate looked at Ino who had dropped to her knees with tears in her eyes. She had just been completely humiliated by Hinata and in front of everyone here.

"Ino is unable to continue, Winner Hyuuga Hinata,"

"Ino-san, I am sorry for doing this to you, but I really didn't want to hurt you and needed to win this match. Let me help you." Hinata then used her gentle fist to reopen all of the closed tenketsus and then helped Ino up the stairs to where her team was waiting for her.

The electronic board started going through the names again and finally settled on the next two names. Lee started jumping for joy when his name appeared on the board and then he got quite as he saw the next name that appeared. Lee jumped down to the arena floor as the other fighter calmly walked down the stairs. Once he was in position for the fight Hayate took his position between the two fighters with his hand raised.

"Sixth Match, Rock Lee Vs Uzumaki Naruto. Ready, Hajime!"

Naruto stood still as did Lee and then Naruto extended his hand to Lee. Lee looked for a moment and then clasped the outstretched hand in his own. "May the best shinobi win. Good Luck Lee."

"The same to you Naruto. I will not hold back against you."

Naruto released the hand shake and took a step back into a ready position. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's get wild!"

Suddenly both nins were in motion and most of the crowd had a hard time keeping up with them. Those who could keep up with the speed the two nins where displaying were simply amazed at the high level of taijutsu that both of them where using. Naruto was throwing punch and kick combinations left and right. Lee was blocking or dodging each and every one of the punches and kicks and returning them with his own that Naruto was also blocking with little difficultly.

-- Balcony --

Garaa was watching the match with rapt attention while the two fighters were going at each other. He was having little trouble keeping up with the pace of the fight, but inwardly knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up that pace for long with his sand.

Kankorou and Temari were staring hard at the fight happening in front of them. They had no idea what was going on, but they both felt that these two fighters would be on par with Garaa, and that scared the shit out of them.

Hinata was watching with her Byakugan. She knew that Naruto was fast, but she also knew that since Lee was doing the weight training longer and harder since he focused solely on taijutsu. Lee was faster, but Naruto had three to four times the stamina that Lee did. This was going to be an interesting match.

Tenten was in awe of the fight before her. She knew that Lee was good from all of the extensive taijutsu training Gai had given him, but she had no idea he was this good. Naruto on the other hand was something else. She remembered him from her class in the academy he hadn't passed that year. He had passed this year, but it was at the bottom of the class. She had no idea whatsoever that Naruto was this good. She looked over to Neji to try and gauge his reactions. He was even a bigger mystery since he didn't say anything and was still using his Byakugan to watch the fight.

Outwardly, Neji showed nothing but mild interest in what was happening in the fights so far. Inwardly he was impressed with Hinata performance since the girl wasted no time with talking as he had done and she even completed her fight faster then he would have been able to. And then she had even undone her own technique to keep Ino out of the hospital. Then Naruto had to fight Lee. He knew that Naruto was good, but Lee was better, or so he thought. _'I have never seen Lee this fast. Has he been holding out in his fights with me in the past. And yet here he is going all out against Naruto and Naruto is holding his own. I think I can see where Team Seven got their skills. Hatake-san must have them training far more than any other genin team. For Hinata and Naruto to improve this much the training must have been extreme at the least.'_ He decided that he would have to ask Gai to increase his training to be on par with what Lee is doing.

Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Sakura, Kiba, and Shino where watching with baited breath at the fight before them. Each lost in their own thoughts as to how the dead last of their class was doing so well and moving so fast that it looked like he was going to beat someone that was a taijutsu specialist, in his own specialty no less. Many of them started to rethink their opinion of the genin as they watched this fight.

Most of the jounin of Konoha knew what Naruto was capable of this so it was nothing new for them. The jounin instructors from the different villages had no idea that the training methods of the Leaf could produce results like this. They felt that they would need to take this information back and see if they could start to try and implement this kind of training with their own genin teams for the next chunnin exam.

Back on the arena floor both Naruto and Lee were still not tiring after all of the combos that they had been throwing and blocking. Finally deciding that there was enough showing off, Naruto decided to get serious. Using his speed at techniques, he called forth five Kage Bushins and had then attack in tandem with him. While the bushins were attacking, he moved away at super speeds to the side of the arena and then used a technique Kyuubi had taught him for when he needed a bushin that could take a beating like no other. Making the seven seals required for the technique he whispered the technique. "Youkai Ketsueki Bushin no Jutsu (Demon Blood Clone Technique)."

The clone went out and joined the fight in Naruto's place. After the Kage Bushins were destroyed, Lee went for the kill removing the gravity seal and using lotus on the last Naruto standing. After the impact, everyone saw Naruto laying on the ground and Lee struggling to stand. "I finally . got . . you . . . Naruto."

The Naruto in the pit then suddenly turned into a pile of blood. Lee looked shocked for a moment before everything turned black. "Sorry Lee, but I can't lose here. You did real good." Naruto said as he used a simple chop to the back of Lee's neck to knock him out.

"Winner Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto picked up Lee and then handed him over to the medics before walking up the stairs to the rest of his team. When he got up there, Sasuke and Hinata walked over to him.

"Good job Naruto, since we both made it to the finals, we can finally see which one of us is the stronger, and no holding back either."

"You got it Sasuke." Naruto said while turning to Hinata, "So, what did you think of the fight?"

"I think you should stop showing off is what I think," Hinata said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"But, I can't help it and I needed to give Lee a good fight or he would have been devastated."

"That is besides the point Naruto-kun. You showed that you have a great deal of speed and the stamina to keep that speed up for a long time. You gave away too much in that fight to everyone here that you could be fighting in the future." Hinata said while crossing her arms in mock irritation.

"But, what about your fight Hinata-chan?"

"Simple, people already knew I was a Hyuuga so there was no need to hold back the Juuken since Neji-nii-san already used it, and the speed that I did the technique at was close to that of Hakke Rokujuyon Sho (Sixty-four Palms) so I didn't actually reveal anything to the other participants."

Naruto just hung his head after Hinata had finished. He knew she was right. "I guess that means you will have to learn something else to help over come the handicap you just gave yourself then." Hinata said with a smile on her face.

Naruto's face shot up looking at Hinata. A small grin made its way to his face before expanding to his full blown foxy grin., "You got that right Hinata-chan." Naruto said before pulling Hinata into a hug. Hinata started to blush before returning the hug herself. They didn't stay that way long since the balcony they were on shook violently for a few seconds.

Hurrying to the side of the balcony they looked down and saw Sabaku no Garaa in the middle of the arena floor with sand surrounding him. Looking under the balcony they saw Kiba and Akamaru in a hole in the wall right under the balcony. Hayate called the medic-nins to check on the condition of Kiba and Akamaru. When the medic-nins gave the clear that Kiba was out but was OK he called the match. Garaa walked up the stairs to where Naruto was.

When Garaa was standing next to Naruto, he said, "I have done as the note said. Now I want to know if you can help me like you said you could."

Naruto looked Garaa in the eye and then held out his hand. "I am a man of my word. You want to be free of your demon, then I have a way. After the preliminaries are over we will talk further in detail."

Garaa took his hand with a little hesitation and then replied, "I will seek you out after we have left the forest." Garaa released his grip and then made his way to his teammates which now had Kankuro missing since it was his fight.

Naruto walked over to Kakashi to tell him about what is happening. Once Kakashi saw Naruto coming to him and the look in Naruto's eye, Kakashi made his excuses from Asuma and Kurenai to meet with Naruto. When they met, Naruto told Kakashi what was going to happen. Kakashi looked a little on the nervous side."Naruto, we can't do something like this without the Kazekage's permission. This could be seen as an act of war on one of their shinobi."

"Kakashi-sensei, you know as well as I do that the Kazekage won't approve of anyone tampering with the seal. Shukaku is driving Garaa mad and it will only get worse if it is not stopped. We have the ability to help him and we need to, besides, If you don't help me with the sealing, then I will just do it myself, or with Jiraiya's help." Naruto said with an air of finality.

"Well than I guess I have no choice but to help," Kakashi said with a smile on his face and then added, "I can't have my favorite student kill himself with a bad seal now can I?"

Naruto nodded his head and then went to see what was happening. While he had been talking to Kakashi both Kankuro and Temari had had their matches against both Tsuguri and Tenten. The match taking place right now was Dosu against Choji. Which the match didn't last much longer as Choji lost even in his Meat Tank mode. The winners were to come down to the floor of the arena while everyone else was to leave since they were no longer part of the exam. The Sandaime Hokage walked forward to the front to explain what happens next.

"Congratulations on passing the preliminary matches and moving onto the finals. The final exam is going to be a Tournament style event that will be held in one month. You each will have a month off to train and prepare yourselves for the matches. You have seen some of the abilities of your competitors and know something of what you will face in the final exam."

"Hokage-sama," questioned Naruto as he raised his hand, "Does that mean that only one person will become a chunnin if it is done in a tournament?"

"No Naruto, the tournament is merely to show what each nin is capable of doing. There will be examiners watching the matches and grading people on their performances. If a person does well and shows that they have the ability, then they will be made a chunnin, whither or not they win the tournament. A person could lose their first fight and still be promoted if they have shown that they have what it takes. The more round you fight in though, the more opportunity you have to show the examiners what you are capable of. Now, Hayate is passing around a bowl and from the bowl each of you will draw a single slip of paper. ON that paper will be a number between one and ten, this will be your order during the exam. After you draw your number state your name and the number you drew."

Hayate passed around the bowl with numbers and the people did as the Hokage said.

"Uchiha Sasuke, number 5."

"Aburame Shino, number 7."

"Nara Shikamaru, number 9, tsk troublesome."

"Hyuuga Neji, number 3."

"Hyuuga Hinata, number 4."

"Uzumaki Naruto, number 1."

"Sabaku no Garaa, number 6."

"Sabaku no Kankuro, number 8."

"Sabaku no Temari, number 10."

"Oto no Dosu, number 2"

"Very well," said the Hokage as Hayate finished mapping the exam.

"The exam will be in this order." said Hayate as he showed the people the clipboard with the tournament rankings in it.

Uzumaki Naruto Vs Oto no Dosu  
Hyuuga Hinata Vs Hyuuga Neji  
Uchiha Sasuke Vs Sabaku no Garaa  
Aburame Shino Vs Sabaku no Kankuro  
Nara Shikamaru Vs Sabaku no Temari

Each of the genin memorized the person they were going to be fighting against and then gave a nod that they were finished. "You have one month to train and prepare yourselves for the task at hand, good luck and dismissed." said the Hokage as he left. The rest of the genin left as well making their way back to the village of Konoha. As they left, Naruto slipped a piece of paper into Garaa's hand that told Garaa where to come for the sealing.

-- Naruto's House --

Iruka was waiting at the house for Kakashi and Naruto to show up and tell him about the chunnin exam. He didn't have to wait for long. Both of them came in sat down and started to talk about everything that had happened. After talking for a few hours they had dinner and then turned in for the night. The next month was going to be a lot of hard work.

-- Sound Fortress on the boarder of Fire Country --

Orochimaru was waiting for Kabuto to finish the preparations for the new arm to be attached. It would be attached in a day and then he would have a month to get used to the arm before his plans came to fruition.

"Kabuto, send word to the Sand siblings that Uzumaki Naruto is to be killed during the finals, I know that one of them will face him eventually, more than likely Garaa. We will postpone the full assault until after the Finals are over, once the finals are over then the attack will commence and we will destroy Konoha once and for all."

"As you command Orochimaru-sama. I will inform Baki and he will tell the rest." '_Soon Orochimaru, I will be able to finally finish you off and pay you back for the things you have done to my family, I will only have to wait for the right time._'

Kabuto left to carryout his master's instructions.

-- Town on the boarder between Fire and Water Country --

The Legendary Sannin Tsunade was having her usual luck in the casinos when her assistant Shizune came and told her that someone wished to see her back at the hotel. Irritated at having lost so much already, she got up and left following Shizune.

Back at their hotel, Tsunade met Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya, what are you doing here?" Tsunade asked.

"Well, I have come at Sarutobi-sensei's request to find you and ask you to return to Konoha. We have a slight problem and need your help."

"There is no way I am going back there. Nothing you or Sarutobi could say would make me want to go back there."

"I have two things that might change your mind. The first is that Arashi's legacy is going to be fighting in the finals of the chunnin exam."

"Why would I care about that?"

"Simple, Arashi's legacy is the one who had the Kyuubi sealed into him. He is a lot like Arashi used to be. Second is our old teammate is back and will try and start a war of some kind at the chunnin exam. Sarutobi-sensei is going to finish what he should have done a long time ago, but he needs us to help protect Konoha. Arashi was like a younger brother to you, please come back and help protect what left behind." Jiraiya was trying to play off Tsunade's emotions and it was working.

"Fine, I will come back with you, but once things have quited back down and Orochimaru is down, I am leaving again, and nothing will bring me back after that, understood?" Tsunade sneered at Jiraiya.

"Perfectly, thank you Tsunade."

"Don't thank me yet."

-- Naruto's apartment, the next day --

Naruto got up with the sun and was ready for his training to start, when there was a knock on the door. Going to the door, Naruto opened it to find Garaa there minus his gourd. "Good to see you Garaa, come inside and we will get started."

Things were about to get interesting.

End Chapter

Author Notes: Sorry about the long time since updates, I just got a new computer since my old one died and had to rewrite a lot from scratch. Hopefully the next chapters will come out quicker, but no guarantees.

Ja ne

DarkKnight: The LightHawk


	13. Chapter 13

Starting Over  
Chapter 13  
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the computer I use to write this.

Starting Note:

I know some people are asking about why Kakashi looks to Naruto as his favorite. That is easy. During training he doesn't treat any of the three differently, outside of training, Kakashi has been with Iruka taking care of Naruto from 3 years old, because of that, he looks to Naruto as a younger brother almost. That is why.

On with the story.

-- Naruto's House --

Naruto lead Gaara to the backyard area where he and Kakashi put up the additional seals to aid in the sealing of Shukaku, only they were going to be doing things a little differently. Naruto motioned for Gaara to take his place in the center of the circle and then called out two Kage Bushins.

"Gaara, this is Hikaru and Kyuubi. Both were sealed inside me just like Shukaku was sealed in you. The priest that absorbed Shukaku screwed up and that is what is driving you insane and not letting you sleep. Kyuubi is going to be focusing on controlling the youki (demon chakra) from Shukaku. Hikaru is going to focus on exorcising the priest and releasing him from you, while Kakashi and I are going to complete the seal so that things between you and Shukaku will improve. Do you understand what we are going to be doing?"

"I think so. Will I still have all of the power and techniques I had before?" asked Gaara.

"Yes, and after we have finished, I think that Shukaku will have a few more things that he will be able to teach you as well."

"Then please begin." Gaara said as he waited for the process to start.

Kakashi and Naruto started the sealing circle while Kyuubi and Hikaru stood outside waiting for their place to be ready. Once the sealing circle was complete Kyuubi stepped into his place and added his chakra to help stabilize Shukaku while Hikaru stepped into his place and began the exorcism.

After two hours of work, they had finally finished the process of separating the priest. After the priest was gone it was a simple task of adding a new layer of seals to help contain the raw power of Shukaku and then it was finished. Kakashi, Naruto, Kyuubi, and Hikaru watched Gaara for his next move when he suddenly looked up and said something.

"Thank . You . . sleepy."

With that, Gaara passed out. Kakashi finished cleaning off the materials that were spent in the ritual and then carried Gaara to the house. Naruto left for his private training near the hot springs knowing that in a few days Jiraiya would be back and then he could start his training for the finals in earnest.

Over the next three days while waiting for Jiraiya to return, Naruto and Kyuubi worked on the demonic techniques. Most of the techniques where quite destructive and needed a lot of room to perform them. After finally mastering the newest demonic bushin technique of Kyuubi's, they finally arrived.

-- Konoha Onsen --

Naruto was practicing his water walking technique while performing some of the other jutsus to help with his chakra control. After going through each shinobi, and demonic technique he knew, he sat down in lotus position on the water, still practicing using the water walking on all parts of his body, and began to meditate on his chakra and mana reserves. He was just finishing up when he felt their presence.

"Hey Ero-sennin, about time you got back. Now you can teach me more of the techniques you were supposed to teach me for the final exam." Naruto said with his trademark foxy grin.

"Now listen gaki, I told you I would teach you those techniques when I thought you were ready," Jiraiya said while moving forward to where Naruto was sitting on the water. He pulled back a fist and smacked Naruto in the back of the head saying, "AND DON'T CALL ME ERO-SENNIN! It gives all the girls the wrong idea."

"More like the right idea from where I am sitting Jiraiya." said Tsunade watching the whole proceedings.

Naruto looked over and saw Tsunade, all of his memories of her came rushing back. He knew he had to get her to stay, but how to do it without it looking like a trap. "Hey Ero-sennin, who is this old hag?"

Jiraiya instantly felt the killer intent rolling off of Tsunade and took a step back from Naruto. "Who are you calling an old hag, I certainly don't look like one, do I?"

"Not with the genjutsu you have going on, but I can see under your genjutsu and you are really wrinkled under it."

Tsunade charged and hit him in the head, "What do you know gaki, you would be lucky to look half as good as me at this age."

"Whatever Baa-chan. Anyway, when are you going to teach me the techniques you said you would, I only have three weeks and I want those three techniques."

"Fine, we'll start with the summoning first and then move to the Yondaime's prize technique."

"Jiraiya, you can't be serious, there is no way this kid can learn any of those techniques at his age, and in three weeks, you are insane, and so is the gaki."

"Listen old hag, just because you are too old and slow to learn anything that quickly, doesn't mean others can't!" Naruto shouted. This would be the chance he needed, he just had to play this out right. "I am going to be the next Hokage and I will be even better than all the previous Hokages or my name isn't Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Well Naruto, what do you say to a little bet. I know for a fact that you won't be able to master both techniques in the three weeks you have. If you can master both techniques in two weeks, then I will teach you some of my techniques as well." Tsunade said with a little grin.

"Yatta! More jutsus!"

"But, if you can't learn the two techniques, than you have to quit being a ninja and give up your foolish dream of being a Hokage. Only those who are fools would take that job."

The plan was working, but still everything she said started to hit every wrong nerve on him. He couldn't let anyone say those things about the Hokages. "You can't say that about the Hokages, they are the greatest and did everything to protect everyone!" Naruto was seething at the end of his speech. "If you want something so drastic as that from me, then when I win, you have to let the old man Sandaime retire and take his place till I am ready. Take it or leave it."

"Ha, like I would want the position of Hokage, but since I know you will lose, then I will take this bet." The two shook hands and Tsunade left.

"Naruto, are you sure that this was wise, I mean I know how you feel about the Hokage position, but this bet is going a little far."

"Don't worry Jiraiya-sensei, I know exactly what I am doing."

Jiraiya just looked at Naruto for a minute before shrugging and then getting the scroll off his back. "This is the scroll of summoning for the frogs. Cut your finger and then sign your name in blood to seal the contract."

"I know Ero-sennin, I have had this contract before, remember?"

"Sorry forgot, This time I am going to make sure you can summon different levels of frogs before you have this technique."

"Hai."

-- One week Later --

Jiraiya dragged Tsunade down to where they were practicing so that she could see how the bet was going. When the two of them walked into the clearing that Naruto was practicing at, they found him sparring with one of the medium sized toads wielding a katana.

"Well Tsunade, it has been one week and he has mastered the Kuchiyose no Jutsu in a week and can summon several different levels of frogs so now you know that he has mastered this technique. What do you think of that?"

Tsunade humphed and looked at Jiraiya, "You really expect me to believe he did that himself?"The sparring stopped when Naruto heard that. "All right Baa-chan, If you don't believe I summoned him then I will show you something that WILL make you believe!" Biting his thumb and running through the seals, Naruto pumped a lot of his chakra into the technique and called out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

Slamming his hand into the ground, a giant ball of smoke enveloped the area and when it cleared Naruto was standing on top of the head of Gamabunta. Tsunade just stood there in complete shock. Somehow, this genin had called out the BOSS of all frogs and was riding him just like the Yondaime used to.

**"Oy ! Gaki, what did you call me for?"**

"Sorry boss, Tsunade-baachan didn't think I could summon anything on my own and I wanted to prove it to her, plus we need to work on the Gama Yuendan. Can you give me some oil over the lake?"

"Sure Gaki." Gamabunta turned till he was aimed over the large lake and then inhaled deeply. Naruto started going over the seals and when Gamabunta released his stream of oil, Naruto called out the attack. "Katon: Gama Yuendan! (Fire: Frog Blast!)"

The minute the fire from Naruto's technique hit, Gamabunta's oil turned into a fiery blast of napalm. The lake put out the flames of the technique so that it didn't hurt the forest area.

Tsunade stood there not believing that Naruto had already won the bet in one week. Naruto nodded his head to Gamabunta who disappeared back to the summons realm leaving Naruto to land in the clearing near both Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"See, I have finally mastered the first technique Jiraiya. Now you need to teach me the second technique so that I can finish winning this bet."

"All in good time Naruto, right now I have something to finish. Meet me here tomorrow and then we will begin on the second technique."

Naruto nodded and then left the clearing at a full sprint so that he could train with Hinata and Sasuke. He had yet to teach them the next set of spells and the next chi technique. After Naruto had left, Tsunade finally managed to recover from her shock to ask Jiraiya a question.

"Jiraiya, what do you mean the second technique? He just did two powerful techniques that you taught him!"

Jiraiya just shook his head and said, "I didn't teach Naruto the Gama Yuendan. He had already learned that one since he knew that I would eventually teach him to summon frogs. He learned it a few weeks ago before I left to pick you up."

Tsunade was further dumbfounded to learn of this. How could a genin learn all of these things. She nodded and then walked off with a lot of things on her mind. _'Naruto, you have started to get through to her. Just by being yourself you have changed her a little, now you need to learn the Rasengan. I hope you weren't kidding when you said that you could do it.'_

-- Next day --

Naruto was in the clearing waiting for Jiraiya to show up to start the Rasengan training. He didn't have to wait long since Jiraiya started walking into the clearing with a large sack of balloons in his hand. When Jiraiya sat down the bag, Naruto walked up to him and asked, "What are the balloons for Jiraiya-sensei?"

"These, Naruto, are how you are going to learn to do the Rasengan. This is the final form of the Rasengan." Jiraiya held out his hand and created the Rasengan. "The first step of this training requires you to use your chakra to swirl the water and pop the balloon like so." Jiraiya demonstrated what needed to be done when he held the water balloon and it started stretching in every direction for a few seconds before popping. "Now you know what you need to do so have fun and I will teach you the next step once you get this one down."

As Jiraiya walked off, Naruto picked up the balloon. He already knew what to do, but he needed both hands to do it before. He wanted to do it right this time so he took his time and started to create small swirls of chakra in the water. After about five minutes, he had over three hundred different currents of water spinning inside the water balloon. Those would be enough to pop the balloon and it would have if Naruto had applied any power behind the swirls. He wanted to do this right and needed to get the concept of the different swirls down to reflex before he started adding power. Hikaru and Kyuubi helped him a lot in this aspect since they trained his chakra control to the point of near perfection.

Finally after about four hours of constant work and the pain in his hand and arm from over use of chakra he had managed to get the creation of all of the different swirls of chakra he needed to appear in a second. It was even faster than Jiraiya's creation of the spins and more than his so that it would be a WHOLE lot more powerful. Naruto was about to stop his training for some rest when Jiraiya came back into the clearing with two bowls of ramen. The smell was enough to give Naruto a quick boost of strength.

"So how goes the training Naruto?" asked Jiraiya as he sat down on a stump in the clearing and brought out the ramen. He took one bowl for himself and gave the other to Naruto.

"I have it Jiraiya-sensei ! Let me eat and then I will show you."

Jiraiya looked around the clearing and didn't see any pieces of popped balloons. "You haven't even popped one yet! What makes you think you have it then?"

Naruto didn't answer as he was stuffing his face with the ramen. After he finished his bowl, he looked over at Jiraiya. "I'll make a bet with you. Give me one attempt with any water balloon you want and I will pop it."

"All right what do you want if you win?" Jiraiya asked with an amused smirk on his face.

"Simple, you buy me all the ramen I can eat tonight as well as paying for both Sasuke's and Hinata-chan's meals tonight."

"Fine, but if you can't do it, then you get to do tomorrow's training, all day, using your Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique). Deal?"

Naruto thought for a minute. He knew he could do it, but didn't want to give Ero-sennin a chance to back out of the bet. Naruto extended his hand and waited for Jiraiya to accept the handshake. "Deal, and now you can't back out Ero-sennin !"

Jiraiya quickly bashed his student on the head for that comment and then grabbed one of the water balloon and looked it over for any holes to make sure it wasn't rigged in any way. Satisfied he handed the balloon over to Naruto.

"Here you go, one try and then you are done for the day."

Naruto took the balloon and put it in his hand and then started to concentrate. He stopped concentrating and looked to Jiraiya and then with a smirk started up the technique. Jiraiya watched as the balloon started to make the same motions that his did when he did the technique and then noticed that there was at least twice the number of spikes in the balloon before it burst in under a second.

Jiraiya was floored. It took him a month to figure out the trick to this step, and then to get the control good enough for all of the swirls that he had to make into it, and here was Naruto, the son of the creator of the technique and he did it with more swirls of chakra, faster rotation speed, and all in ONE DAY!

Naruto started cheering wildly and jumping around the clearing. He knew he could do it and he finally mastered the first step of the training with one hand. It was all thanks to the extra training Kyuubi and Hikaru and given him over the years. He thanked the both of them in his head. Both Hikaru and Kyuubi were thankful for the thanks and both were proud that Naruto had come so far. In a few months time, he would be ready to make the bodies for the both of them.

Jiraiya finally got up from his spot and gathered Naruto to take him to his reward. That night Sasuke and Hinata joined them for dinner just like Naruto had wanted. Sasuke had onigiri with water, while Hinata had tanukiudon (Flat noodles deep fried in tempura butter) with green tea. Jiraiya had dango and onigiri with sake. Naruto had thirty bowls of Miso Ramen with green tea as his winnings from his bet with Jiraiya. The four of them talked for a while about different things, including their training, until each had finished their meal.

After they finished their meal. Hinata and Naruto took a stroll through one of the parks in Konoha enjoying the night air. Naruto thought nothing of it, but Hinata thought of it like a date. _'If only I could tell him what he means to me. I love him more than anything in this world. I want him to love me the way I love him, but I can never gather the courage. Maybe one day I can tell him and then we will do something like this on a real date.'_

They separated for the night with a hug. Naruto left to go home and rest while Hinata went inside the Hyuuga compound and had the best sleep and dreams she had ever had.

The next morning, Naruto was in the clearing waiting for Jiraiya to show up for his next lesson. Jiraiya showed up with several rubber balls in a bag and gave them to Naruto. "This part of the training is a lot harder. First, since there is no water, you will have to use your chakra to move the air inside the ball which makes it harder. The next part of it is that since the ball is thicker rubber and not a simple balloon, you have to use a lot more power for the same effect. You got the control, now you need the power to go with the basic control. Once you have this down, I will teach you the last step of the technique."

Naruto took the rubber ball in hand and started to work on it while Jiraiya left. This was a LOT harder than he thought it would be this time. He worked for several hours straight with the same problem cropping up from yesterday. The constant use of the tenketsus from his arm and hand were hurting worse with each attempt. Finally as he was about to give up for the day, Jiraiya came into the clearing. Naruto didn't see him though. Naruto took the ball again and stared at it. Finally he knew what it would take and how badly it was going to hurt.

As he walked into the clearing from Naruto's back, he suddenly felt the chakra of the Kyuubi and then he saw something that he never thought would be possible. The rubber ball just exploded in Naruto's hand before Naruto screamed out in pain. Jiraiya ran over to Naruto as he dropped to his knees. Pulling back the sleeve of Naruto's right arm, he saw what he thought he would see. Naruto had apparently not stopped even for lunch and the amount of chakra that was being used for the technique had started to cause chakra burns on Naruto's arm. The Kyuubi's chakra had helped him get through the pain, and given the Rasengan even more power, but after the chakra left, the damage was still there. Naruto had not used the Kyuubi's chakra for healing this time. Just enough to let him finish this stage of training.

Jiraiya took the unconscious Naruto to Tsunade's hotel room and waited for either her or Shizune to come back. He didn't wait long since they arrived after about ten minutes of waiting.

When Tsunade walked into her hotel room, she saw Jiraiya sitting in a chair by the table and Naruto unconscious on one of the futons. Raising an eyebrow, Tsunade asked, "What is going on Jiraiya? Why are you two here?"

"I am asking a favor Tsunade. In the last two days Naruto has already finished the first two steps to the Rasengan. He has practiced so much that the chakra pathways on his right arm are damaged. He could have used the Kyuubi to heal the damage, but he isn't. He wants to win this bet fair and square and he won't stop until he is finished. Even with the pain from finishing the technique so quickly. I want you to either heal the chakra pathways, or at least give him something that will help him heal."

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya like he had just grown another head. There is no way that the kid could have burned out the chakra pathways on his arm that quickly. Still Jiraiya was always serious about training accidents, and she was a medic. It didn't hurt Naruto's case that he resembled Nawaki either, After a preliminary examination, it was just as Jiraiya had said. It didn't take much for Tsunade to heal the majority of the damage. The odd thing about the healing was that instead of shrinking the chakra pathways back to what they should be for Naruto to start over, they stayed the same size allowing the same amount of chakra through them without the pain he was supposed the have.

After Naruto was healed, Jiraiya left with Naruto over his shoulder. He gave Tsunade a bag of money for healing Naruto. Tsunade was going to refuse the money when Shizune took it so that they could have something else to eat off of when Tsunade lose their money gambling, but she never told Tsunade that.

Naruto woke up the next morning feeling a lot better than he had in a while. His arm wasn't sore from the training and that bothered him. He told Kyuubi not to heal him and apparently he had. He decided to ask about it and summoned his new bushin so that both Hikaru and Kyuubi were there. Both were a little surprised to be out but stretched and were glad they were.

"So Kit, why did you bring us out?" asked Kyuubi with a smirk at finally being let out for a little while.

"I thought I asked you not to heal me Kyuubi, I didn't want an unfair advantage over Tsunade." Naruto replied.

Kyuubi just sat there with an unreadable expression on his face and then said, "I haven't done anything to you Kit, honestly. You called for my chakra and got it, but used it for the technique and not for healing. I have not done anything to help you except that, just like you asked."

"Then why are the chakra pathways on my arm healed like new?"

Hikaru decided to field this one to give Kyuubi a break. "Naruto, after you passed out from the pain of completing the second stage, which Jiraiya saw by the way, Jiraiya took you to Tsunade and paid her to heal you. They are the ones who did this."

"Well, I hope that Tsunade doesn't look at this like I have lost the bet since I had to get healed. Anyway, you guys have fun around and use a Henge so that people don't figure out who you are. I am going to meet Jiraiya for the final lesson of the Rasengan training."

Hikaru and Kyuubi watched as Naruto left. They both used a Henge to make them older and then went to a bar for a couple of drinks. They planned on following up on Naruto in an hour so that they could help out with the final part of the training if necessary, but first a drink since they haven't had anything to drink in a very long time.

-- Orochimaru's Temporary HQ --

Kabuto had just finished the last of the technique for attaching a new arm on Orochimaru. The surgery had been difficult since it was not a clean cut and most of the nerve endings had been fried off due to whatever technique that the Kyuubi brat had used.

After Orochimaru had woken up Kabuto had been summoned to his side.

"Kabuto, finally, I summoned you over an hour ago, where have you been?"

"My apologies Orochimaru-sama, I needed rest from the operation and didn't think you would be up anytime soon. I went to sleep to recharge my chakra so that I would be able to give you the next round of treatments for your new arm. It should be ready for the attack on Konoha during the final exam."

"As to be expected with the medical training you have been given. I have another job for you right now though. I want that Kyuubi brat dead, use whatever means necessary, I don't want him to make it to the final exams. PUT HIM IN THE GROUND FOR WHAT HE DID TO ME!"

"It will be done as you have commanded Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said as he left. _'It won't be long until the I will finally have my revenge on you Orochimaru, and it will be sweeter than the sweetest wine. Until then, I must act as your loyal servant. The time shall come soon indeed.'_

-- Training Field 7 --

Meanwhile, Naruto made it to the training ground to see both Tsunade and Jiraiya there waiting for him. He walked up and said, "Morning Ero-sennin, Oba-chan. So I take it you want to see what I have learned so far?"

"Here is the rubber ball Naruto, pop it and I will show you the final exercise." Jiraiya said as he tossed a rubber ball at Naruto. Naruto caught the ball and then focused for a minute and then the rubber ball blew into pieces.

"Like that?"

Tsunade stood there completely stunned. She was not able to believe that in two days the kid had already finished the first two steps. It had taken Jiraiya himself almost two years to get the first two steps finished and another year to master the compression for the final technique.

"Alright gaki, here is the final stage of the test." Jiraiya threw Naruto a normal balloon filled with air and took one himself. He held the balloon and nothing happened.

"OK so you are holding the balloon, what is the big deal about that?"

"This." Jiraiya formed a Rasengan in his other hand to demonstrate what was happening inside the balloon. "you have to take everything you have learned thus far and then you compress it into a solid ball. If done correctly, then the balloon won't pop. It won't even move. Let's see if you can do it Naruto."

"Yosh! This is going to be easy!" Naruto took the balloon and then started to make the Rasengan. After a second, the balloon popped signaling he failed to do it. He didn't give up though, he keep trying. Jiraiya and Tsunade watched as he tried over and over several times and still was not able to preform it perfectly.

After a few hours of trying, Tsunade left to go and get lunch for the three of them. Making her way out of the clearing, she went toward the ramen stand that Jiraiya had told her was Naruto's favorite. She had just left the clearing itself when her senses went off. She felt something off and then turned around and found out what was off when she got back to the clearing.

Just after Tsunade had left, Kabuto came in from the other side of the clearing and with a single throw of a senbon had poisoned Jiraiya. The paralysis poison wouldn't hold the sannin long, but it would hold long enough for the two chunnin to take care of Naruto. He signaled the two chunnin and they charged into the clearing fully intent on finishing off Naruto quick and painfully.

-- Naruto's Fight --

Naruto sensed the attacks coming and leaped into the trees avoiding the shuriken and kunai sent towards him. As he landed, Naruto saw that he would be up against two chunnin and that he would have to deal with them solo and quickly. They lost the element of surprise, but he didn't have his trump card of Hikaru and Kyuubi, they were still out enjoying the day.

Deciding his course of action, Naruto quickly went through a series of handseals for his technique. Taking a page from Sasuke's book he called out, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire: Mythical Fire Flower Technique)!" Spitting out several fire balls out of his mouth he hid a kunai in each fireball.

The chunnins dodged most of the fireballs but still got hit by a couple each. With the kunai still embedded, Naruto unleashed one of Kyuubi's favorite techniques for use against humans. "Higi: Naimenteki Bakuhatsu (Hidden Technique: Inner Explosion)!" The technique traveled the hidden wire of the kunai and hit the two chunnin. With the kunai piercing the two chunnin, the technique had a straight path to its target. The technique aimed for the tenketsu of each and every inner organ of a being and then caused the tenketsus to expel chakra from them causing every organ in the body to explode. It simply liquefied them leaving a solid shell since the skin was still intact and the bones left alone. Death was quick, but not painless.

Kabuto sat in the tree and saw what happened. He was shocked to see that Naruto had taken care of two chunnin so easily. He had to take care of Naruto and quickly if he wanted to survive. Making his move, he activated his Chakra Enjintou (Chakra Scalpel) and leaped towards Naruto. Landing right as Naruto turned around, Kabuto hit him with his Chakra Enjintou and severed most of the tendons in his arms in seconds. Naruto jumped back and tried to move his arms for seals but couldn't."You see Naruto-kun, I have severed the tendons in both of your arms, you cannot move them. Soon I will sever all of the tendons in your legs and then I will kill you," Kabuto said as he readied for another attack.

Naruto was busy thinking about how to get out of this situation and fast. Kyuubi wasn't inside him so he couldn't use the quick healing of Kyuubi's chakra. He couldn't move his arms so hand seals for techniques was out, and without hands to hold and throw the spells, they were out as well.

Kabuto started in attacking Naruto again, this time Naruto just barely dodging each of Kabuto's attacks. As the situation continued, Naruto was becoming more and more desperate, then his prayers were answered in the form of Tsunade coming in and using her monstrous strength to catch Kabuto off guard and knocked him into a tree.

"Naruto, you OK?"

"Not really, Kabuto did something to my arms and I can't use them. He said something about cutting the tendons, but he just touched me."

"Kabuto must have used Chakra Enjintou, they are chakra based scalpels used by Medic-nins that can cut muscles and tendons without cutting the skin, I can fix it for you after I take care of Kabuto."

Kabuto had gotten up by this point, completely healed and knew that things were about to take a turn for the worse if he didn't take care of Tsunade quickly. The two medic-nins engaged in combat. Trading blows and quickly healing what damage was done by the other, their battle lasted for a couple of minutes.

Kyuubi and Hikaru felt Naruto in trouble and rushed back to the scene to see Tsunade and Kabuto fighting it out. Kyuubi and Hikaru both rushed in and rejoined with Naruto. Kyuubi watched from inside Naruto as Tsunade and Kabuto fought. He used his abilities with chakra to figure out how the Chakra Enjintou worked and how to improve it. By the time Kyuubi and finished fixing Naruto, Kabuto had had enough of facing Tsunade and decided to end things.

"Tell me Tsunade," he said as he used his kunai to make a large gash on his left arm from his elbow to his wrist, "do you still have that little fear of BLOOD!" Kabuto punctuated his sentence by slinging his arm and making his blood fly into Tsunade's face.

Tsunade froze as the blood hit her face. Her mind locked up as she saw Dan and Nawaki again. She relived their deaths and her inability to save them. All she could do was stand there shaking like a leaf.

"It seems like you still have that little phobia. Well, now that I have wasted enough time with you, I will finish off Naruto and then kill you for Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto turned to where Naruto should have been, but instead got a rather nasty shock.

"Rasengan!" Naruto had already healed and used the time to pull together a full Rasengan, and charged Kabuto as he talked to the petrified Tsunade. Once he was close enough to hit, Kabuto turned around and took the full force of the attack to his stomach. Kabuto fought against the force of the Rasengan, but it won out and he was blasted through a series of trees.

Naruto walked over to Tsunade and shook her out of her stupor by whipping off the blood.

"You OK Tsunade-obachan?"

Tsunade slowly shook off the effects and then saw what Naruto had done. She almost couldn't believe it, but then she remembered that he was the legacy of Arashi.

"I'm fine, but we are going to need to take care of Kabuto once and for all."

"Already got that covered Tsunade-obachan !"

Tsunade keep her reflexes in check, promising a strong punch to the top of Naruto's head after this.

Kabuto had made it up and was ready to face the two of them by this point. Standing straight, he prepared his Chakra Enjintou to kill them.

**_'Naruto, I have a new technique for you, do the following handseals, and then repeat after me. . .'_**

Naruto started running through the handseals that Kyuubi said and then repeated after him loud enough for Tsunade to hear the name of the technique.

"Katon: Baaningu Chakra Enjintou (Fire: Burning Chakra Scalpel)!"

Red Chakra surrounded Naruto's hands and then became a foot long blade when he had his hand in the knife hand position.

**_'These will not only cut as cleanly as the normal Chakra Enjintou, but they will also cauterize the wounds to such a degree that they will never be able to repair the damage. I think it is about time to teach that traitor a permanent lesson, don't you?' asked Kyuubi._**

'_Couldn't have thought of a better punishment for his crimes myself, do your worst Naruto and make sure he never uses his limbs again.'_ said Hikaru.

'You got that straight. He is going down.'

Both Tsunade and Kabuto were momentarily shocked that a genin not only could preform a medical technique requiring near perfect chakra control, but also to modify the technique on the fly was unheard of. Naruto took the chance and struck out at Kabuto. One hand going for his right arm, and the other going for his left leg. Kabuto's right arm was hit on his bicep rendering the whole arm useless, while he barely hit Kabuto's left leg at the ankle. He could still move decently, but not fast enough to be able to dodge as well.

Kabuto took stock of his situation and realized just how much trouble he was in. Things were not looking good for him at all, and it was the GENIN that was doing most of the damage not the Sannin. Before he could put much more thought into his actions, Naruto struck out again, this time taking out his left arm and left leg. Falling down to the ground, Kabuto landed face up.

Naruto walked over to Kabuto and looked him in the eyes. Once he had Kabuto's full attention, he said, "This is just the beginning of the pain you are going to feel." Naruto quickly used the technique to sever every tendon and ligament in Kabuto's arms, legs and neck, leaving him unable to move, but still able to feel everything. "You are going to pay for your crimes, and give Morino-san everything he wants to know, you can't fight back, but you can still feel everything that happens to your body."

Naruto pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. Bitting his thumb and spreading the blood over the seal, he activated the summoning scroll and Morino Ibiki appeared out of the smoke. Naruto caught his attention and then motioned over to Kabuto while saying, "One traitor, completely incapable of movement, and still able to feel everything. Have fun Ibiki!" Naruto finished with a grin and left Kabuto to the tender 'mercy' of Ibiki. He walked over to Tsunade and went to see what she had to say.

Tsunade on the other hand, was flabbergasted. She knew that Arashi's heir would be powerful, adding to the fact that he would also have the Kyuubi's near limitless chakra would make him even more powerful, but this was bordering on Sannin or Hokage level power, and he is just a genin. Then she realized the one thing that she had always done and that was lose a bet.

Naruto walked over to her and she reached behind her head and removed her necklace. She motioned him to stand right in front of her so that she could place the necklace on him and did so. She put her hand to his chin and raised his head to look into his eyes.

"Naruto, I think this is the first time that I have ever felt good about losing a bet. I made the deal and I will stick to it. After the Chunnin Exam, I will take over the title of Hokage for the Sandaime."

"Thanks Tsunade-obachan."

That remark earned him a rather hard smack to the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that for!" asked an upset Naruto as he rubbed his abused head.

"That is for calling me Obachan. I don't look that old, so don't call me that!" Tsunade said with a hard face. Her face softened to a smile and then said, "Call me Tsunade-oneechan instead."

Naruto grinned up at her and the two walked out of the clearing to grab dinner. Things were looking good for the future, that much was sure.

End Chapter

Authors notes: I want to give my thanks to Dragon Noir for beta reading and helping with ideas for this chapter. Next Chapter will see the first half of the Chunnin Exam finals. See everyone then. Sorry about the wait, but I lost my monitor and then a virus corrupted the file system and I had to restore everything maunally before I got everything finished.

Ja Ne


	14. Chapter 14

Starting Over  
Chapter 14  
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the thoughts in my head.

Chunnin Exam Finals!

It was a peaceful day in Konoha, unless you count the thousands of people gathering at the arena in the middle of the city. Today was the day of the finals for the Chunnin Selection Exam. People had gathered from the different Hidden Villages to see what the participants of the exam were capable of doing. Many perspective clients were also here to see the genin in action. The families of the different genin who made it to the finals were afforded special accommodations so that they would be able to see their families better. One such group was Hiashi and Hanabi Hyuuga. Hinata, Hanabi's sister, and her cousin Neji were both in the finals.

In another area, the Hokage was sitting with both of his former students in Henge next to him. Jiraiya was still pissed over the fact that Tsunade had left him and Naruto had forgotten him after the confrontation with Kabuto. Tsunade had only said it was what he deserved for not paying better attention, Naruto was just happy to have come out of the encounter alive after facing a jounin and had simply forgotten that Jiraiya had been there at the start of the fight. Their own thoughts were put on the back burner since the Kazekage was just now arriving and taking his place in the Kage booth to watch the final exams.

"Konichiwa Kazekage-dono, I hope your trip was uneventful."

"Konichiwa Hokage-dono, the trip was long, but uneventful." The Kazekage replied as he sat down in the seat provided. "I am looking forward to seeing what the last Uchiha is capable of."

"I am sure he will put on a good showing. I myself am looking forward to what your own children are capable of doing. I have already seen a little of what they are capable of during the preliminaries a month ago." replied the Hokage not letting on that he already knew that this was not the Kazekage but Orochimaru in disguise. The seals of the arena's Kage box had already alerted him of the falsehood that was the Kazekage. He just had to play his part.

Both Kages turned their attention to the middle of the arena where all ten fighters had taken their place facing the crowds. Everyone looked on to the ten fighters in their respective fighting garbs. Dosu, the lone member from the sound that remained. Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara from the sand. The only team from sand, and all three had made it to the finals. Then you had the members of the leaf. Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji, Hyuuga Hinata, and finally Uzumaki Naruto.

"I am Gekkou Hayate. I will be the examiner for this final exam. This is the exam order. First, Kinuta Dosu vs. Uzumaki Naruto. Second, Hyuuga Neji vs. Hyuuga Hinata. Third, Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara. Fourth, Aburame Shino vs. Sabaku no Kankuro. Fifth, Sabaku no Temari vs. Nara Shikamaru. Now everyone not in the first fight, please move to the waiting area. Uzumaki Naruto and Kinuta Dosu, please remain and prepare for the first fight of the Chunnin Selection Exam Finals."

Everyone else moved up to the observation area reserved for the fighters. Once everyone was in place, they moved to the first match.

"First round, first fight. Uzumaki Naruto, vs. Dosu. Ready! Hajime!"

Hayate leaped back back to make room for the two genin. They looked at each other for a moment and then Dosu charged. As Dosu moved, Naruto jumped back, and started to make a series of hand seals. As he finished, he didn't call out anything. Dosu thought he messed up and revealed his sound amplifier on his right arm and then swung it forward using his chakra to make the sound waves fly directly at Naruto.

As the waves hit, there was a brief moment of distorted air and then nothing. Dosu smirked until he noticed that nothing had happened to Naruto. He knew he should have been on the ground or at the very least bleeding from his ears.

"I see that you are confused, so I will make things clearer for you." said Naruto as he suddenly was not there anymore. The next second he was behind Dosu extending his leg for a straight kick to Dosu's back. The attack hit and Dosu went flying. "I didn't call the technique I used for the simple fact that I didn't want to give away the surprise. After learning about how all of the sound nins use sound waves in their techniques, I devised a little technique of my own. The technique 'Kaion no Jutsu (Clear Sound Technique)' is a technique that filters out high frequency sounds and chakra infused sounds making every single sound based technique useless against me. Now I will show you what the leaf nins are capable of doing."

In the Kage box, the Hokage, Jiraiya and Tsunade were impressed that Naruto had come up with a technique like that given the limited time. Orochimaru, posing as the Kazekage, showed nothing on the outside, however he was as pissed as he could be. _'How can a simple genin who was DEAD LAST of his class, be able to not only use a technique so powerful that it burned off one of my arms, even through the chakra shield I had up, but also create a technique to completely disable every techniques of my village!'_

Dosu regained his bearings and knew he was in trouble, if he couldn't use his sound amplifier, then the only thing he had left was his taijutsu. The two genins charged each other and meet in the middle of the arena for a taijutsu match. Dosu started off with a punch feint into a kick combination that was meet by the leg of Naruto and countered with a straight punch to Dosu's face. The punch caught Dosu off guard and Naruto capitalized on the advantage by landing a three punch combo followed by a raising kick that caught Dosu in the chin and knocked him back.

Naruto settled into the Gouken stance (hidden leaf's academy taijutsu) and waited for Dosu to get up. Dosu quickly regained his feet, throwing five kunai and then added speed to them with his sound amplifier. As the kunai rushed to Naruto, they slowed at about ten feet from him. He raised his hands and caught two of the five kunai by their handles and used them to deflect the other three. "I told you Dosu, none of your sound techniques will help you in this match."

Naruto then threw the two kunai back at Dosu, each kunai charged with his chakra causing them to explode when they hit the ground at Dosu's feet. He jumped back from the explosion, but he was caught off guard as Naruto charged through the dust cloud of the explosion. Naruto landed a three hit combo of two punches and a kick on Dosu. The first punch hit to his solar plexus knocking the wind out of him and folding him over. The second punch was an uppercut that righted Dosu and set him up for the roundhouse kick to the solar plexus again. The kick drove him back and his vision swam from the repeated blows to his stomach. He couldn't see what was coming and that cost him the fight. Naruto ran up and used a double inside crescent kicks to Dosu's head causing him to lose consciousness.

Naruto back flipped out of the attack with his hands and landed back into the basic stance of the leaf taijutsu style. Hayate jumped back to check on Dosu and after confirming his unconscious condition motioned to Naruto and said, "Winner by knockout, Uzumaki Naruto."

About half of the crowds cheered and then stopped as Hayate started speaking again. "Next round, Hyuuga Neji vs Hyuuga Hinata, will the fighters please come down to the arena."

Naruto was walking up the stairs as he passed Neji and Hinata. He grabbed Hinata's arm and pulled her aside and waited for Neji to leave. "Hinata-chan, Hikaru wanted to tell you something." Naruto does the seals and gives both Kyuubi and Hikaru forms. Hinata blushed when Naruto called her Hinata-chan, but when Hikaru showed up with Kyuubi, she stopped her blush and grew serious.

"Hinata, I have gotten my hands on some information that you might want to know. Do not, I repeat do not use any Hyuuga technique on Neji. I did some digging and found out that there is a contract in the Hyuuga archives that if a Main House member defeats a Branch House member without using any Hyuuga technique, then the Bird Cage Seal becomes illegal and must be removed from all branch members. This is the perfect place to start the unification that you wanted."

Hinata couldn't believe her ears, but here was the chance she was waiting for and now she would be able to do something to help Neji and the others. "Hai!" Hinata walked down and out to the center of the arena to meet Neji.

"Second fight, first round. Hyuuga Neji vs Hyuuga Hinata. Ready! Hajime!"

As Hayate jumped back Neji slid into the Juuken and activated his Byakugan. He took notice of how Hinata was confident and thought that she would win. "Hinata-sama, you and I both know that I am the prodigy of this Hyuuga generation. You have no chance of winning. I have no desire to hurt you, but if you do not forfeit from this match, then I will be forced to defeat you in any means necessary."

"Neji-niisan, I am afraid that I can't give up. I have something that I must do and I will fight this fight, and I will win. I have a mission and for that mission to be successful, I must win this fight. I hope that you will understand." Hinata finished her speech and slid into a stance that most people didn't know what it was. Neji frowned since he couldn't identify the stance himself. That didn't matter, it was time for Hinata to lose so that he would show the superiority of the Branch House.

The two combatants looked at each other and then struck. Neji moved forward with his Byakugan active and chakra moving from his fingers to close the tenketsus of Hinata. Hinata moved forward and began chanting under her breath, while cupping her hands. As Neji moved to strike, Hinata moved to the left and when she was at his side, she unleashed her spell.

"Diru Burando (Dill Brand (Explosions Array))!"

The ground under Neji exploded and he was sent tumbling. He quickly righted himself. He saw Hinata moving in, but it was faster than she had ever moved before. He got up but couldn't raise a defense for her attack. Using her enhanced speed from the chi speed training, she did a one hundred and twenty punch combination on Neji in less than a second. The combination ended with a roundhouse kick that knocked Neji away giving him room to recover.

Neji couldn't understand what was going on. He readied himself to use one of his trump cards, the Kaiten (Heavenly Spin) the next time she came in close to do that technique again. Hinata came in but saw what her cousin was going to do so she jumped back at the last second and did a repeat of the spell she used earlier.

"Diru Burando (Dill Brand)!"

The explosion did what she was expecting, While Neji was in his spin, he was thrown into the air and with his spinning, he couldn't control his landing. He took a hard fall and dislocated his right shoulder. He staggered to his feet and stumbled for a minute before regaining his bearings. He looked to Hinata and saw that she was not even winded and that this fight was not going well for him. He had to do something and fast if he wanted to make a good showing.

Hinata may not have shown how exhausted she was, but she knew it on the inside. The use of the same spell on top of the chi maneuvers she had used, had taken a toll on her. She could do more, but she would have to pace things if she wanted to win in the long run. Thinking quickly, she knew what she had to do, and she hoped that it would work. Training with Hikaru had shown her a spell that she could use to stop any of the other's spells, but she didn't know if it would work for chakra, but this was just as good a place as any to try it.

Reaching inside her shirt, she pulled out the chalk bag Hikaru had given her for the spell and then used her chi enhanced speed to use the chalk to make a thin marked pentacle across the entire stadium floor in less than a minute. Neji had no idea why Hinata was running all around the stadium wasting energy, but knew he was not going to be able to stop her in his condition so he used the opportunity to pop his shoulder back in place with a open palm. It hurt like hell, but at least his arm was usable now. Once she was finished she called out her spell. "Ruun Bureikaa (Rune Breaker)!"

The chalk glowed and then the glow died away with the spell in affect. Neji didn't think anything of it so he moved forward and tried to use his Juuken. Hinata meet each of his attacks with blocks and evades and noticed that the spell was having some effect. The chakra coming out of Neji's hands was lessened and that meant that it wouldn't be strong enough to close the tenketsus.

Neji took a step back and then called out his final trump card. "You are now within my range of divination. Hakke Rokujyuyon Sho (64 Palms of Divination)!"

"Two Strikes!"

"Four Strikes!"

"Eight Strikes!"

"Sixteen Strikes!"

"Thirty-two Strikes!"

"Sixty-four Strikes!"

Hinata took each and every hit and left him do his attack. Once he finished, she dropped to a knee and looked at Neji. Neji had a smirk on his face and then it fell as Hinata stood back up with no difficulty other than being stiff from the hits. She took a formal stance and then said, "You can't use your chakra effectively inside this arena. I have used a new technique that disrupts the flow of chakra. You can't use technique, but I can!" Hinata charged and began using the breaking point to create a dust cloud and used the cloud as cover for her real attack. She came from below and used an open palm strike on Neji's chin to knock him unconscious.

Once the dust was cleared, Hayate moved over and checked Neji for any signs of continuing. Finding a pulse, but no consciousness, he said, "Winner, Hyuuga Hinata!"

The crowd went wild with the display of fighting prowess and Hinata moved to the balcony to wait with the others. When she made it up to the top, she was greeted by an enthusiastic Naruto running up and pulling her into a hug that Hinata melted into. _'Now if he would give me a kiss and tell me that he loves me, then I would be the happiest girl in the world'_ she thought as Gaara and Sasuke made it to the ground floor for their match.

-- Stadium Stands --

In the stands, Hanabi sat there with a shocked expression on her face. _'How can Hinata have gotten this strong? Wait, she didn't use the Juuken, she is so weak that she can't even use her family style to defeat a Branch member, even if he is our cousin.' _

Hiashi on the other hand was incredibly impressed. He never thought this day would come and here his own daughter that was looked down by the rest of the Hyuuga had done what the council had feared so much that they sealed the information so that the people that it applied to would never know about it. He couldn't keep the look of pride and admiration out of his eyes.

Hanabi looked to her father and saw the look in his eyes and decided to ask about the look that he usually reserved for her. "Tousan, what are you so happy about, Hinata just showed how pitiful her fighting skills in the Juuken is, she never even used it in the first place."

"That Hanabi is because without even realizing it, your Oneechan has just freed the Branch house from the Caged Bird Seal and removed the Hyuuga council from power."

Hanabi looked at Hiashi with confusion and shock. _'How, how can she, whom I have always defeated, be able to do something like this?'_

"You see, when Sandaime first came into position, the Hyuuga had just started to use the Caged Bird Seal on the Branch family. He didn't approve of it and tried to change Hyuuga policy, but since he was new to the office the village council overruled him and allowed the clans to pose their own rules to themselves. Sandaime was not one to be outsmarted though so he posed a challenge to the Hyuuga clan council. If a Main House member should break from tradition during a fight with a Branch House member in a Public forum, then the Hyuuga would lift the Caged Bird Seal and the council would step down allowing the Head of the Family complete autonomy to run the clan anyway they see fit. The council signed it in the arrogance thinking that no one would try and do it, but one of the elders council figured out what might happen, so he had the information sealed to the Head of the clan and the council of elders. Those that knew about the contract, were immune from the stipulations. If I had known before becoming the Head of the Clan, I would have challenged my brother and ended this farce sooner. I have acted cold to you and Hinata because if I didn't then the council would have suspected something. That and I also wanted to make you both strong. I am sorry that I have been unable to help you both in the past and show both of you how much I truly care for you. Now that Hinata has lifted the Family Seal, I can be the father to you that I have always wanted to be." Hiashi finished his speech with a hug to his youngest daughter. She accepted the hug and had a smile on her face. Now she had a real family and now she didn't have to act so cold herself anymore. Things were looking up for the Hyuuga family. "I have something I have to take care of in the infirmary, I need to see Neji and talk to him. Please stay and enjoy the tournament Hanabi." Hiashi then made his way out of stands. He used a technique to teleport to the Hyuuga Estate and collect two scrolls before using the technique again to go to the Stadium Infirmary.

-- Stadium Infirmary --

Neji was coming to in the infirmary. His head hurt and his body ached. He didn't know how Hinata had done those techniques without hand seals, but the techniques had really done a number on him. Sitting up slightly and getting his bearings, he found himself facing Hiashi. Cringing in the inside, he knelt in front of Hiashi and bowed his head to show his obedience.

"Sit Neji, I have some good news for you." Hiashi said as he helped Neji move back to his bed and sit down on it. Hiashi knelt on the floor and bowed till his head was touching the floor in front of Neji. Neji was in shock and then tried to get Hiashi to stand but Hiashi stopped him.

"Neji, I have held this terrible burden for so long and now I can finally be free of this burden." Hiashi handed Neji a scroll. Neji opened the scroll and found that it was a letter from his father. While Neji read the scroll, Hiashi rose and took the seat next to the bed so that they could talk.

After reading the scroll, Hiashi turned to Neji and said, "I have good news for you. Tomorrow, the Hyuuga seal specialists will be removing the Caged Bird seal form you and the rest of the Branch Family members."

Neji stared in shock, "How is this possible? I thought that the seal was permanent until death."

"The seal was created with a way to remove the seal in case the Head was killed leaving no Heir, then the Head of the Branch would be instated as the Head until a new Head could be found. They didn't want a Head to be able to be killed by someone easily so they had a way of removing it. You can thank Hinata for the permanent removal of the Caged Bird Seal from all Branch Family members."

"How is it that Hinata has managed to do this?"

Hiashi handed Neji another scroll and allowed him to read the contract that he had summoned on his way to the infirmary. As Neji read the scroll, his eyes widened realizing that Hinata had done what she had always wanted to do. No more would there be a separation of houses among the Hyuuga, but one united family.

"Hinata has done something that I wish I could have done long ago. I would like to now take you on as your full time teacher in the art of the Juuken and teach you the fullest of the style. I will not replace your Jounin sensei, merely train you after your team activities when you have time. In return, I would like for you to aid Hinata in whatever she chooses to do with her life. Support her the same way that I am supporting you. I have not always been there for her and I want her to be happy. Help her where I cannot and then I will consider the matter settled."

"Hai Hiashi-sama!" Neji replied with building tears. His very dream was coming true thanks to his cousin, the Dobe (Dead Last) of the Hyuuga. He would have to make things up to her. Helping her win the man of her heart would be the perfect way to do that. Neji vowed to himself that he would help Hinata win Naruto's heart. Naruto had helped the both of them with his actions so it was the perfect way to repay the debt he owed to them both.

-- Stadium Arena --

Hayate waited till both genin were in position and then raised his hand. "First round, Third fight. Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara. Ready! Hajime!"

The two wasted no time running at each other and beginning the match with a straight punch to each other's face. They both caught the punch and stayed that way grappling each other. They stared into each other's eyes and then Sasuke made a soft comment that only they could hear.

"Gaara, I know that you want to face Naruto as much as I do, but we both also know that the Oto and Suna nin will be attacking at the end of the tournament according to what you told me and Naruto."

"Your point Uchiha Sasuke?"

"I propose that one of us drop from the fight. And to make things fair, how about the first one to draw a single drop a blood from a technique, wins?"

Gaara thought for a moment and then nodded as his sand came alive and wrapped Sasuke up before throwing him into the wall. Sasuke recovered mid flight and landed with his feet against the wall and used chakra to stick there before gathering even more and launching himself at Gaara while performing hand seals for a technique. Once in range, he let lose his technique.

"Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Grand Fireball Technique)!"

The fireball ran forward just slightly faster than Sasuke was flying. Gaara put up a wall of sand to block the fire attack. The fire turned the sand into glass and Sasuke used the breaking point to shatter the glass sending the fragments flying right at Gaara faster than his sand could react. Pieces of the glass cut Gaara's arms and face.

Sasuke looked up to see Gaara had a few scratches on him bleeding and then smirked. "Looks like I win the right to fight him Gaara. You are going to have to wait for another time to spar against him,"

Gaara looked down and saw that indeed he had cuts. _'If I had been faster and moved instead of standing still, I would have been able to face Naruto. I guess that I will have to just wait and fight him later.' _"I concede this match to the one who drew first blood." With that Gaara moved away toward the stands to wait with the others who had lost their matches.

Sasuke looked to Hayate who nodded and announced, "Winner by forfeit, Uchiha Sasuke. Next match Aburame Shino vs Sabaku no Kankuro. Will the fighters please come to the ring."

Sasuke moved to the ring while Shino and Kankuro moved down to the center on the arena.

-- Chunnin Exam waiting room --

Meanwhile, Gaara moved to say his final piece to Temari before joining the other genin who didn't pass the first round. Me made it to Temari and pulled her aside. "Temari, I have something that I must tell you before I move on. I have made friends and alliances with the Hidden Leaf. They have helped seal Shukaku from my mind allowing me to sleep and stabilize myself. They have known of Orochimaru's plans and have prepared for them. Oto and Suna will lose this war in a matter of hours after the war starts. Orochimaru has killed our father and has taken his place. I have already been accepted by the Sandaime Hokage as a nin of Konoha, he has also assured me that if you and Kankuro aid in the defense of Konoha, then you will be accepted as Leaf nin as well. I strongly urge you and Kankuro to choose the same path that I have. It is going to be the best for our future to side with them."

After finishing his say, Gaara left Temari thinking over what he had said. She had a lot to think about before the end of the Exam.

-- Arena Floor --

Hayate raised his arm preparing to start the next fight. "First Round, Fourth Fight. Aburame Shino vs. Sabaku no Kankuro. Ready! Hajime!" As Hayate dropped his hand he jumped back to give the genin room to fight.

Shino and Kankuro starred at each other for a minute before Shino summoned a swarm of destruction bugs. As Shino summoned his bugs, Kankuro pulled Karasu off his back unwrapping it and sending it forward with his chakra strings. The destruction bugs destroyed themselves when they hit the puppet and created a cloud of dust. The dust obscured line of sight between both genin and Shino used the time to preform two techniques back to back. The first was Konchuu Bushin no Jutsu (Bug Clone Technique) to create a replacement, and the second a Kawarimi (Replacement) to replace himself with a log leaving his bushin to distract Kankuro.

Kankuro pulled back Karasu for a diving attack when the dust cleared. He grinned as the dust started to clear and sent Karasu forward at the figure he could see, hoping to get the upper hand. Karasu hit the target just like planned, but then what happened next was not what he was expecting. The Shino that he hit suddenly turned into a collection of bugs that wrapped around Karasu and then the puppet fell lifeless to the ground. The reason was simple, the chakra strings that Kankuro used were eaten by Shino's bugs that made up the Konchuu Bushin. The chakra bugs then ate the residual chakra from the puppet and then moved in a swarm towards Kankuro.

Shino stepped out from the shadow of a tree and called to Kankuro. "You have already lost your weapon. I know that you rely solely on your puppets. If you do not forfeit now, I will have my bugs eat all of your chakra until you cannot continue this match. You are completely outclassed and pitted against an opponent that you cannot defeat. Surrender now and show that you have some intelligence."

Kankuro weighed his options in his head in a matter of seconds and then raised his hand in the air. "I forfeit due to being unable to fight any further."

Hayate moved in and said, "Winner by forfeit. Aburame Shino." The cheers went up and Kankuro and Shino moved off the field and back to their respective places in the waiting area. "Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari, please come to the arena for the final match of the first round."

Temari jumped down ready for her fight, while Kankuro prepared his other puppets for the attack coming after the finals. Shikamaru was about to call out that he quit when Naruto shoved him over the railing calling out, "Go get her Shikamaru!"

A/N: The fight happens just like in the Anime and Manga so I am not rewriting it.

Hayate called out the end of the final match and the participants moved off the field. After a ten minute break to help clean up the field from the previous fights, the second round of fighters was called. Naruto and Hinata moved to the arena and waited for the signal to start the match.

Hayate moved into position and called forth everyone's attention. "Second Round, First match. Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Hinata. Ready! Hajime!" Hayate jumped back leaving plenty of room for the fight has he had done in the past.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and then slid into a similar stance. Naruto took the time and said, "Hinata, we have to fight each other, there is no other way to show that we are capable of becoming Chunnin. Just think of this as a sparring match, just with a crowd and everything will be fine."

Hinata nodded her head and then switched stances to the Juuken. She knew that she didn't stand a real chance since she could never fight Naruto with everything and even if she did, then she would still lose because of all of the advanced training Naruto has received from all of the Jounin instructors as well as that of Hikaru and Kyuubi. She just had to make a good showing and thus started things off quick using the Juuken style with the chi speed. Combined, she was faster than Naruto with the chi speed and used that to her advantage.

Naruto saw her switch to the Juuken and put up a chi shield around his body to protect his tenketsus from closing and was shocked when Hinata started attacking using the chi speed. He used his own chi and sped up but was still not a match to Hinata's speed and still took a lot of hits.

Both traded strikes from straight punches, to knife hands, to open palm strikes used to disable joints. The blows were parried away for the most part allowing the energies to be sent out harmlessly in the air. Some hits actually landed and Hinata was scoring the most hits in this taijutsu match due to the speed she had over Naruto, but the speed was costing her more and more chi and Naruto had that in spades. Naruto would win this battle of attrition and then the judges would not be able to see what she was truly capable of doing.

Hinata made the first move separating them as well as upping the battle tempo. Pulling her hands to the side she started to pull her mana to her hands, like Hikaru taught her, to release spells in rapid succession. She aimed at Naruto and calculated which way he would dodge "Mono Voruto (Mono Volt)!" She launched a low powered lightning bolt aiming at Naruto's left leg, making him jump lightly to his right. _'Good'_ "Mono Voruto (Mono Volt)!" This time she aimed at his right hip so he would dodge back to where he was just before her first spell, slightly turning his left side to her, which he just did _'Perfect'_ "Digu Voruto (Digger Volt)!" She now launched a higher powered lightning bolt at his left shoulder which hit home, stunning a very surprised Naruto. _'I really have to thank Hikaru-sensei again for teaching me such speed at spell-casting'_ "Digu Voruto (Digger Volt)!" She cried, launching another higher powered lightning bolt to his chest, hitting dead center. She took advantage of the stunning and paralyzing effects of the electricity to go in position and preform her clan's signature attack. "You are now within my range of divination. Hakke Rokujuyon Sho (64 Palms of Divination)!"

"Two Strikes!"

"Four Strikes!"

"Eight Strikes!"

"Sixteen Strikes!"

"Thirty-two Strikes!"

"Sixty-four Strikes!"

All of the strikes hit in rapid succession and closed off all of Naruto's tenketsus. Naruto dropped after having them all closed but then he started to stand again to the surprise of everyone in the arena. As he stood he, looked to Hinata and said, "That is not going to stop me. I may not be able to mix chakra, but I still have all of my other techniques."

Naruto summoned up his mana since it was a lot higher than his chi right now and began the motions for casting a series of spells. He started running and then started to set Hinata up for the final. Using his speed, he sent out three spells just like Hinata had done to set things up for the spell to end the match. "Baasuto Rondo (Burst Rondo)! Baasuto Rondo (Burst Rondo)! Bomu Di Win (Bomb Di Wind)!" The Baasuto Rondo made Hinata move around unless she wanted to take damage from the fire bullets. The Bomu Di Win aimed at the ground where she landed, launching her into the air. His finish was what really shocked the spectators. While Hinata was falling back to the arena floor, she didn't have time for anything and was hit with the final spell that ended the match. "Suripingu (Sleeping)!"

Naruto ran under the now unconscious Hinata and caught her before she could hit the ground. "Examiner, I don't think she will be able to fight any longer since she is taking a nap right now."

Hayate moved over to check Hinata and noted that she was unconscious, he took Hinata from Naruto and handed her to the waiting medic nin before calling out, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto. Will Aburame Shino and Uchiha Sasuke please report to the field for the next match." Naruto walked off the field and went to the Infirmary so that he could undo the spell, while Shino and Sasuke moved to the arena for their match.

-- Stadium Infirmary --

Neji was just getting a clean bill of health so that he could move to watch the rest of the fights that were left when a medic nin brought in Hinata. He quickly moved out of the way and then moved to her side. "What is her condition?"

"Other than light bruising that nins normally get in a sparring match, nothing. She is just asleep for some reason." answered the medic nin after running a diagnostic jutsu. She was puzzled as to why she would be asleep.

Not long after she had answered Neji, Naruto walked into the room. Neji looked at Naruto and knew that this is the one who put Hinata here. "What do you want Uzumaki?" Neji asked in a rough and threating tone.

"I just want to undo the technique I used on her. If I leave it alone, she is going to be sleeping till tomorrow and nothing not even her getting hurt will wake her. We need her for what is coming and that is why I limited the techniques I used against her and just put her to sleep without knocking her out. Now if the two of you will move, then I will remove the spell."

Neji and the medic moved to the side and allowed Naruto room. Holding his hands above Hinata, he pulled the mana for his spell and cast his spell under his breath. "Furou Bureiku (Flow Break)!"

Hinata moaned and then stirred waking up in the Infirmary of the Stadium. She looked around and saw Neji, a medic nin, and . . . Naruto standing next to her with his hands as if he just cast a spell.

"What happened and where are we Naruto-kun? Last I remember we were having our match and then waking up here."

"I had to use the sleeping spell to win the match without you getting hurt before the big fight after the exam. Once they brought you here to the Infirmary, I was able to undo the spell so that you would be ready when everything is over. You did really great out there. Hikaru must have taught you that rapid fire of spells." Naruto finished with is signature foxy grin.

Hinata nodded to Naruto _'He also taught me what I need to win your heart, I love you more than anything and after things are settled for the Chunnin Exams, I will tell you everything I feel.' _Hinata moved to get up but the medic nin stopped her.. The medic nin redid her diagnostic jutsu to make sure that nothing was wrong. Once she was satisfied, she released both Neji and Hinata and all three genin went to the waiting area to view the match that was just starting.

-- Arena Floor --

Sasuke and Shino made it to the center of the stadium arena and squared off against each other for their match. Hayate moved to the center of the two and prepared to announce the match by raising his hand and saying, "Second Round, second match. Uchiha Sasuke vs Aburame Shino. Ready! Hajime!" As Hayate said hajime, he dropped his hand and jumped back from the genin giving them room.

Sasuke shifted and jumped back sealing for a Katon technique to open things up and when he landed, he called out, "Katon Goukakyuu (Fire Grand Fireball)!" A large gout of fire raced towards Shino who called out his bugs to deflect the fire and give him time to move.

Shino moved to the side calling two waves of bugs to go to either side of Sasuke. Once he had them in position, he moved forward with his plans to eliminate Sasuke. Using a Konchuu Bushin no Jutsu (Bug Clone Technique) to take the initial charge of Sasuke after he recovered from his technique, He sided himself to the rear as the Bushin charged forward and the bug swarms charged at the sides. He got a shock when all of the attacks landed and Sasuke popped into a blob of water. Suddenly all of the water turned to ICE as Sasuke shot off a technique that no one had seen before.

"Furiizu Aroo (Freeze Arrow)!" A blue arrow made of ice shot out from Sasuke's outstretched hands from the side of the field and then the water surrounding the four forces freezes trapping them inside a large block of ice. Sasuke then used the opposite, putting a larger amount of chakra then normal to make sure his jutsu would have enough remaining power to burn the bugs after melting the ice. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Grand Fireball Technique)!"

Shino fell to the ground with minor burns over his body and over half of his bugs destroyed or disabled. Things were getting serious quickly, and he needed to do something faster or be removed from the tournament. He sent a small swarm that was all but hidden in the direct sun light and sent them to eat away at Sasuke's chakra, while Shino dealt with him in person.

Shino rose from the ground and prepared to face Sasuke with waves of his bugs. He sent the wave in from the sides as he charged forward. The bugs on the left to slow him down for the swarm to affect him and latch on, the right to herd him for the taijutsu attack that Shino himself was preparing. Sasuke managed to avoid the herd but was still hit with a punch combination and the bugs to start draining his chakra.

Sasuke had enough playing and decided that it was time to pull out all of the stops and finish this fight in a hurry. He activated his sharingan and pulled out the wire and four fuuma shuriken from his pouch. He quickly tied the string and then spun up the shuriken before launching them at Shino. Shino dodged the first two as expected but the shadows caught him and then all four twisted around Shino. "Kage Fuuma Shuriken (Shadow Windmill Blades). Now to finish this match," He brought the strings to his lips and then while holding the strings sealed out his final technique. "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire: Dragon Fire Technique)!"

The fire traveled from Sasuke's mouth down the wire holding Shino in place and then burned Shino. Shino was barely able to stand after the attack and knew he wouldn't last much longer. He looked over to Sasuke and then said, "Sasuke, good match, but I guess neither of us will be continuing in this tournament. You have managed to take me out of the competition, but you are out as well." Shino passed out right as he finished talking and Sasuke had a confused look on his face until he deactivated his sharingan and noticed that he too was out of chakra due to Shino's bugs and passed out as well.

Hayate moved to the center, after checking both genin, move said, "Both genin are unconscious, draw. The final match will be held in twenty minutes." Shino and Sasuke were taken to the infirmary so that they could be treated and up for the final match. Both genin were treated and back up for action thanks to a few soldier's pills. Now everyone was present and ready for the final match.

People wandered around getting last minute things attended to while several people left since the last Uchiha had been taken out of the competition already. Both the Hokage and the Kazekage were waiting for the final match with baited breath. Uzumaki Naruto would be facing Sabaku no Temari. This would be a fight to see since Naruto had been pulling out techniques that no one had seen and even came up with a new technique by himself.

Naruto and Temari moved to the center of the arena for their fight. Naruto knew what Temari was capable of doing, so he was going to have to pull out all of the stops from the get go to win this fight in the long run. He knew he would win, but it would be close if he let things drag out in the long run. He may have more stamina, but that didn't mean he would be able to out last her wind attacks since they took a lot out of people, if they survived the chakra blades in the wind.

"Chunnin Exam final match. Uzumaki Naruto vs Sabaku no Temari. Ready! Hajime!" Hayate dropped his arm signaling the match and jumped back just in time for Temari to whip out her fan and start the match off with her signature technique.

"Kamaitachi (Slashing Winds)!" The winds headed for Naruto who jumped and then used the winds to gain a higher altitude for his opening move which was a series of taijutsu attacks. Most of his attacks were blocked by Temari's fan, and those that weren't, were dodged outright. Using her fan as a make shift bo staff, Temari blocked the attacks that Naruto was sending her way. She found a rhythm to his attacks and then found the opening. She swung her fan to hit Naruto dead center of his chest that he left unprotected for a reason.

Naruto saw Temari take the bait and when she swung, he caught her fan and then with a simple hip throw, he tossed her while still holding her fan. Temari was not prepared for the throw and she reflexively let go of her fan to right herself. When she turned around, she saw that Naruto had her fan. "I don't think that you will be needing this now." He tossed the fan behind him. He cracked his knuckles while getting a maniacal look in his eyes.

Temari knew that things were going to go downhill fast if she didn't get her fan back and fast. She would use the few techniques that she knew that didn't use the fan till she got it back. And when she got her fan back, she was going to make this stupid leaf genin pay for his little stunts.

They circled for a second before Temari moved forward with a punch and kick combo. The moves was blocked by a simple turning and throwing Temari off balance. Naruto followed that up with light hits to her back and sides.

Temari used taijutsu to make Naruto move,but every single strike was countered well by him, or it was flat out dodged. She never got a clean hit and to make matters worse, she was being played by him since she was only moving further away from her fan instead of closer to it. Finally she got so mad, she let loose a strong punch and over committed to the attack. While off balance, Naruto slid around her and pinned her in a grapple that left Temari with no room to move and a kunai at her throat.

"I suggest you go ahead and call it quits. I don't really want to hurt you after all." Naruto said from behind her while she was unable to do anything.

She looked down and then raised her head with fierce determination in her eyes and said, "Kill me, there is no way I am just going to quit."

"Have it you way." Naruto replied as he prepared himself for what he was going to do. Temari closed her eyes expecting death and when she was released, she wasn't ready for the strike to the back of her neck that sent her to the ground unconscious.

Hayate moved forward to check on Temari's condition and found her only unconscious. He looked back to Naruto and then walked over to him. Grasping his hand he raised it while saying. "The winner of the Chunnin Exam Tournament. . ."

Hayate never got to finish his words as everyone was rocked by and explosion. In the center of the ring a group of Oto nin Jounins stood and while the other four started sealing for Nemurihane no Jutsu (Feather Sleep Technique), the leader stood and looked out and said, "the real winner here is Otogakure (Hidden village of Sound)!"

End Chapter. . .

Author Notes:

I know how much people hate cliffies, but they are so much fun (Dragon Noir : i agree because he tells me what happens next -grins-). I have two more chapters to finish out the Oto/Konoha war and then the thing you have all been waiting for since the beginning of this fic. There is going to be a four-chapter-arc concerning the future pairing of this fic. I know for a fact that if I release it each chapter as I finish it, some people are going to be pissed since most of the stuff will not be fully explained until the fourth chapter of the arc (Dragon Noir : and believe me even when he tells me all the stuff in the 4 chapters, i find it messy to understand). So I am giving you, my readers the choice. I can release the chapters as I finish them, or release them one day after the other after I finish the four chapters completely. I will be holding this poll open until the last chapter of the Oto Konoha War is finished and then let you know in that post during my Author's notes then. BTW I also must thank MaxFic for the idea about the Hyuuga contract with Sandaime. He used it in his fic "Broken Soul" which is a VERY good fic. I hope he updates that fic really soon myself.

Again I must thank both Lioness69 and Dragon Noir for beta reading this work. Without them, I know I would be a lot worse off in the grammar department. Thanks again.

Ja ne.


	15. Author Notes

This is to let all of my fans know that my fic is being continued under a different name and author.  
You can find the continuation here.  
.net/s/5076921/1/A_Second_Life

Dark Knight the Lighthawk


End file.
